Monday, December 3rd, 2012 « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News, supporting the club, the players and the manager

By Tony Attwood

The common sense analysis of Arsenal’s problems comes down to this: because of the ineptitude of the manager and the board, Arsenal don’t have good enough players.  We should spend more, and change the manager.  Possibly a new head of the club with a lot of dosh would allow us to spend our way out of trouble.

It can work.  When Manchester City was sold in order to be part of the promotion of the World Cup in the middle East it had all the money from the oil rich state pumped into it and the club won the league.

On the other hand Chelsea have had unlimited funds – but have spent quite a spot of money on changing managers.   They have not won a league match in their last seven – apparently their worst run since dear old Glenn Hoddle was manager in 1995.

So they suffer fans’ protests – in fact they were suffering them even before he took control.  I don’t like their manager, although of course I have never met him.  But reviving confidence in a team which has lost a number of its natural leaders looks hard going.  If Benitez does turn things around, it will be impressive.

If Benítez does not get Chelsea into the next part of the Champions League all he has left are the domestic bits and pieces.  

But it doesn’t look good.  And yet owners of clubs often appoint managers that the crowd don’t like.   I don’t think anyone much liked Howard Wilkinson and certainly not when he turned up at Sunderland.    Newcastle didn’t take to  Sam Allardyce and in fact West Ham haven’t always loved him.  His public pronouncements about fans that don’t like his style and his bizarre outpouring that one can only denounce that which one has personally heard or seen (thus allowing most of us to ignore such minor matters as the Holocaust, the Vietnam War, the way the Taliban treat women and destroy the relics of other religions etc etc).

What on earth Tottenham were thinking about when they appointed George Graham at Tottenham I have no idea, and as for Villa giving McLeish a job, that just seems plain insane.

And this is the problem.  If Mr Wenger were to go, who would we get in his place.   Benitez (who might well be unemployed any day soon).  Or Jose M. – another ex Chelsea man who is seemingly on the way out of Real Mad. 

And then there is the issue of the finances.   Just imagine (if you can) being a Leeds supporter.  Ken Bates weaves his magic after the club collapses under a mountain of debt.  Eventually he sells the club to GFH Capital – which looks good because they are from Dubai, and there is money in Dubai.

Then the PR spokesbeing and chief operating officer of GFH declines to answer any questions about himself.  Then his web site is taken down.

But David Haigh, the man in question, won’t answer questions – and why should he?  After all he’s only been taking over the club for seven months and these things take time.
But Leeds United Supporters Trust say, ‘We have concerns that are not being addressed,” either amount the money, the owners, or the fact that the new top man in the club has in the past written about how wonderful Man U are.

Perhaps the problem with Leeds man Haigh is that he puts up things on his web site that suggest he has done stuff and won stuff, which actually wasn’t quite right.  The removal of the site was apparently just a coincidence.

But what is interesting is that the website for GFH Capital is seemingly registeredd to Mr Haigh himself despite Gulf Finance House having done $$$billions of deals in the last few years.

The Guardian also reveals that Haigh once stood in local elections for the Conservatives in London and came ninth out of thirteen.  But that isn’t really relevant to football.  I once stood for the local council and came third out of three, but I am not sure that stops me being interested in football.

Anyway, in two weeks Leeds United will be owned by a firm based in the Cayman Islands, and from then on we’ll have no idea what is going on (not that we have any idea just now).

The training ground and the Elland Road ground are already owned by a firm in the Virgin Islands.

So what’s my point?  Simply that replacing the board, and Mr Wenger, doesn’t guarantee success.   Be careful what you wish for.

“Common sense” I am told, suggest that a full scale change is needed now.  And it could mean we ended up like Man City, winning the league but with an FFP problem.  Or we might end up like Leeds United.  Or Chelsea.

Be careful what you wish for.

The books…

The sites…

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