Tag Archives: Manchester United

Manchester United set to poach Arsenal Academy Director

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Reports emanating from Holland are that Manchester United have agreed a deal in principle for Louis van Gaal to become their next permanent manager. Whilst it has been denied by Manchester United, it is likely that the agreement will be announced next week to the NYSE of the forthcoming appointment of the current Netherlands manager.

This partnership could spell bad news for Arsenal, as their recently appointed, and yet to actually work for the club, Andries Jonker, has a long history with Louis van Gaal. Throughout his career, Jonker has worked very closely with van Gaal.

From, 1990 to 1997, Jonker was employed by the Dutch FA as a regional youth coach. His remit at the time was to implement KNVB youth coaching reforms in the Harleem and Amsterdam area. At the same time, Louis van Gaal was manager of Ajax Amsterdam, using his time to bring through the youth players from the successful youth set up which he oversaw as assistant manager.

During this time, with both men based in Amsterdam, one in charge of the future of Holland’s young footballs, the other in charge of Holland’s biggest club, that a bond would be built that would see Jonker follow van Gaal over land and see.

The bond was momentarily broken when van Gaal went to manager Barcelona, whilst Jonker tried it on his own to become a manager – leading Veolndam after two years as an assistant manager their.

Whilst van Gaal was a success at Barcelona, winning 2 La Liga titles and the Copa Del Rey, Jonker had a win percentage of just 25%. The two would link up officialy for the first time when van Gaal was made Netherlands manager in 2000, and bought in Jonker to become the u21 manager.

van Gaal returned to Barcelona in 2002, for a less successful spell. He too with him as his assistant Andries Jonker. After an unsuccessful year, van Gaal returned once more to Holland, to become manager of AZ, with Jonker taking up the managers job’s at Maastricht and Willem II.

Both men re-united once more when van Gaal was announced as manager of Bayern Munich in 2009. As with his second spell at Barcelona, he bought with him Andries Jonker as assistant, who remained by his side throughout and beyond, taking over the Bayern side in 2011 for 5 games after van Gaal’s sacking.

Whilst van Gaal returned as Netherlands manager, Jonker remained in Germany, firstly as manager of Bayern’s 2nd team, then as assistant manager of Wolfsburg.

January this year, Arsenal announced that Andries Jonker will replace Liam Brady as Academy Director. But with Louis van Gaal set to take over at Manchester United next season, it is likely that he will look to poach his long term friend and alley, who he has had a 20 years working relationship with.

Could Andries Jonker leave Arsenal before he has even joined, and become Manchester United assistant manager? The odds are likely.

Keenos

David Moyes and the implications for Arsenal

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Sorry for the late blog today. Thought I would leave it a bit to let yesterday’s Liverpool Myths Exposed blog really hit home.

And how it has hit home. The Scousers, true to form, have basically justified everything written with their bleating. They filled up the comments section on this site, as well as ensuring that both SheWore’s and my own twitter mention’s were kept busy on the bank holiday Monday. Guess the truth hurts them.

My next sentence was originally going to be ‘anyway, back to Arsenal’. But it is impossible to ignore today’s big news, that David Moyes has been sacked.

The David Moyes saga has highlighted 3 factors that Arsenal need to take into account as, and when, Arsene Wenger leaves.

1) Do not listen to the fans – Last summer, before being appointed by Manchester United, he was top of the list for many an Arsenal fan to replace Wenger. And bring Felliani too. How many now are calling for Wenger to go as Moyes is available again? Very few, if any.

Recently, many an Arsenal fan have called for Roberto Martinez to come in, and bring Ross Barkley with him. De ja vu anyone? Whilst fans are passionate, and are the most important factor of a football club, they might not be the most knowledgeable. Let’s leave it to the board to pick Wenger’s replacement, hopefully using the 4 criteria he must fulfil, and hopefully they get it right.

2) Better the devil you know – Yes, Wenger is doing an average job at the moment. Yes, we have not won anything in 8 years. But that does not mean we should rush out and replace him. It is important that we get the right man in, and do our research when deciding who that man is.

As Manchester United have shown, if you get the wrong man in, the consequences can be disastrous. In the hope of saving his job, Moyes spanked millions on Mata, millions on Felliani, and gave Wayne Rooney a massive pay rise and contract. Only to be sacked. This ties up a lot of money for the next manager.

Add in that David Moyes is due to get £10m compensation payout, getting in the wrong man can be a costly exercise. Over the years, Chelsea have spent nearly £100m replacing managers. Whilst we might be cash rich at the moment, getting in the wrong man can be costly.

Whilst Wenger is perhaps not the best manager for Arsenal at the moment, he is the devil we know. Better to keep him and finish 4th, then replace him and finish 7th.

3) Wenger should not chose his own replacement – David Moyes was Sir Alex Ferguson’s man. He told the Manchester United fans to trust in him and give him time. It was the wrong decision. The outgoing manager should never pick his own replacement, no matter how great a job he has done.

Rumours are that Fergie deliberately picked Moyes as he knew he would fail, therefore reinforcing how great Fergie was. Whilst this is likely to be ludicrous, these types of rumours can be detrimental.

Too make matters worse, Fergie remained in the shadows as part of the Manchester United set up. Were Wenger to pick his own replacement, then move upstairs to be director of football, his shadow would cast long and hard over the replacement.

Not only should Wenger not be picking his replacement, when the time comes for him to go, he should step away from the club completely.

 

So what is my opinion on Manchester United? They got rid of Moyes due to lack of Champions League football. This means they pay out less compensation. They realised they got in the wrong man, so have sacked him swiftly ensuring the least amount of compensation paid. Why give him another year, where the highest they’d likely finish is 4th, and still have to sack him for more money?

With Luis Van Gaal available, he will surely come in next summer, scuppering Spurs plans – although they’d surely go for Moyes. With Van Gaal, Manchester United would have a very good manager with a lot of international draw. I would not be too surprised to see his first signing be Arjen Robben.

And what does this all mean for Arsenal? Other then getting to laugh at the Mancs, it highlights further just how careful we have to be when replacing Arsene Wenger.

Keenos

Spend / Net spend of top 7 clubs over last 5 years

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Was just doing a bit of research into the spend and net spend of the current top 7, thought I would share it with all.Spend

Few interesting points:

1) Manchester City have spent a hell of a money for just 1 league title. Infact, they have spent £80m more in 5 years than Arsenal have during the entire Premier League era.

2) Alex Ferguson spent his last 3 years at Manchester United spending the Cristiano Ronaldo money. Very shrewd. Moyes has spent 67.7m taking the team backwards,

3) Liverpool have a net spend similar to Manchester United, is 1 (potential) title really a success then?

4) Arsenal have pretty much broken even over the period, showing just how much we had to tighten our belt.

5) Spurs have had to sell to buy over the last 5 years as they plan the new stadium. Previous years, they have always had a commodity to sell (Bent, Modric, Van Der Vaart, Bale). Do they have the players to sell this summer to enable themselves to rebuild?

Just some thoughts really. Proper blog to come later.

Keenos

All figures taken from http://www.transferleague.co.uk/