Management Analysis 2012/2013

Thought it was interesting that we have a Squad Analysis thread but not a Management Analysis thread. Instead it seems that the criticism and seldom praise is solely directed towards Arsène (and through the Arsène focused threads).

Say what you want about Arsène and his control over our transfers, but I personally doubt he is heavily involved in the sales of our players. With the likes of Bendtner, Squilacci and co. still on the books, and I'd imagine the majority of our transfer chest spend on Giroud/Podolski, how can we confidently negotiate the likes of Carzola, Sahin and Niang (to a lesser extent)?

Point being - for the size of our club there have to be others involved.

Who's dropping the ball? Why?

Interesting topic. I'm not sure there's an easy answer. We like to slag Wenger and then turn around to say the board isn't releasing money because of our stadium/redevelopment costs. On the other hand, you have to question whether why Wenger has stayed so long if he's really felt hamstrung financially. There's probably been no shortage of offers for him. Yes he earns a huge salary but I can think of many clubs who would pay him top wages and provide a larger transfer kitty as well. Overall I think the board coasted for some years blaming or perhaps being genuinely constrained by the new stadium, and also content with us qualifying for CL, knowing we couldn't compete with the sugar daddy clubs. I do sense a shift at least in Wenger. He's been really emotional on the bench in the past couple of seasons. It's getting to him. On the marketing side, we're now doing more commercially driven pre-season tours, so there's definitely an awareness at some level that we need to improve and diversify our revenue sources.

Thought it was interesting that we have a Squad Analysis thread but not a Management Analysis thread.

Because, unlike matches, no one broadcasts board meetings, transfer wranglings, coach get-togethers, etc.

Interesting topic. I'm not sure there's an easy answer. We like to slag Wenger and then turn around to say the board isn't releasing money because of our stadium/redevelopment costs. On the other hand, you have to question whether why Wenger has stayed so long if he's really felt hamstrung financially. There's probably been no shortage of offers for him. Yes he earns a huge salary but I can think of many clubs who would pay him top wages and provide a larger transfer kitty as well. Overall I think the board coasted for some years blaming or perhaps being genuinely constrained by the new stadium, and also content with us qualifying for CL, knowing we couldn't compete with the sugar daddy clubs. I do sense a shift at least in Wenger. He's been really emotional on the bench in the past couple of seasons. It's getting to him. On the marketing side, we're now doing more commercially driven pre-season tours, so there's definitely an awareness at some level that we need to improve and diversify our revenue sources.

I could be proven wrong but the reason he hasnt left i think is mainly because of the love he holds for the club. He has soo much emotional attachment for this club and i suspect he has put so much into it he cant leave really until we hit another high and i respect him for that. He is a fighter and will fight to make arsenal what they used to be even though he could walk away to bigger wages, transfer kitty etc.

As Ant says we have less to go on re managerial speculation as it's primarily conducted behind closed doors & out of the public eye,
unlike our football on the pitch.

A couple of brief points:
* AW says he has total control of the technical side of the football club and would leave if that were to change (coaching, style, development, transfers, wages, tactics etc). That is why he will not accept any offer from the likes of Real etc - control;

* AW talks of being attractive to watch and giving something back to the game - what you do is less important than how you do it. He also talks of being brave in your beliefs;

* AW is a big admirer of the Ajax model regarding style & academy development. However he was also at pains to avoid their outcome as a selling club as a result of their stadium debt;

* IMO in his attepmts to emulate Ajax's outcomes on the pitch he may well have turned us into a selling club because of his emphasis on his youth development vision and his methodology. He relies heavily upon the players to learn what to do via game time rather than by training drills;

* IMO we became a selling club as a result of developing players replacing outgoing players in 08. This has been further accenuated with City's emergence with one of the richest owners in the game,
and that we have failed to replace any of our outgoing top players with like quality/capability since '08.

I have no doubt that AW does love this club & that he is doing what he believes is best for the club.
However my caveat to that is that his vision is absolute & his methods require total adherence re his creating an environment of squad harmony etc, and that any more pragmatic considerations are rejected if they do not contribute to that overall vision.
Me thinks the Board/owner allow AW to persue his vision whilst he is also able to maintain the status quo re top4/CL status & pre-tax operating profits.

We do not know much about management, that is for sure.

One thing, though, is that we have been playing with fate for the last few seasons, especially this year. In 2008 we almost committed a criminal mistake by not replacing our departing and injured first teamers, if not for a late winger signing we would have dropped out of the top4. This season, not replacing Cesc was even worse, and we almost paid the price again.

Not sure why the board believes that we can do this forever, no CL will hurt them more (especially long-term) than signing a De Rossi or a Sneijder.

We do not know much about management, that is for sure.

One thing, though, is that we have been playing with fate for the last few seasons, especially this year. In 2008 we almost committed a criminal mistake by not replacing our departing and injured first teamers, if not for a late winger signing we would have dropped out of the top4. This season, not replacing Cesc was even worse, and we almost paid the price again.

Not sure why the board believes that we can do this forever, no CL will hurt them more (especially long-term) than signing a De Rossi or a Sneijder.

IIRC one of the factors AW has talked of in consideration re signing a player is their fee, age & potential resale value at the end of their contract.
As such he always looks to make a return on a player regardless of their fee, hence why he has an issue signing players close to 30 for top dollar.

IMO we do NOT explore merchandising well enough, and the recent tours may be a sign we wish to address this.
By this I mean that merchandising via player shirt sales can be a powerful financial resource to repay any initial hefty fee as well as ensuring a financial return on our investment.
The prime example of this being Real's claims that they recovered the fee paid for Ronaldo in the first season via shirt sales.

That said such a strategy would require us to go against our current policy of making stars & not signing them,
as it is difficult to generate merchandising interest on most internal developed players unless you have a winning team or an exceptional performance or season by an individual.
The easiest way is to generate volume by signing 1-2 recognised players to freshen the squad.
By way of example Cazorla & Sahin could well be those names to compliment Podolski & Giroud.
CFC will be generating HUGE merchandising from the likes of Hazard & Oscar,
as will ManU with Kagawa.

We do not know much about management, that is for sure.

One thing, though, is that we have been playing with fate for the last few seasons, especially this year. In 2008 we almost committed a criminal mistake by not replacing our departing and injured first teamers, if not for a late winger signing we would have dropped out of the top4. This season, not replacing Cesc was even worse, and we almost paid the price again.

Not sure why the board believes that we can do this forever, no CL will hurt them more (especially long-term) than signing a De Rossi or a Sneijder.

IIRC one of the factors AW has talked of in consideration re signing a player is their fee, age & potential resale value at the end of their contract.
As such he always looks to make a return on a player regardless of their fee, hence why he has an issue signing players close to 30 for top dollar.

IMO we do NOT explore merchandising well enough, and the recent tours may be a sign we wish to address this.
By this I mean that merchandising via player shirt sales can be a powerful financial resource to repay any initial hefty fee as well as ensuring a financial return on our investment.
The prime example of this being Real's claims that they recovered the fee paid for Ronaldo in the first season via shirt sales.

That said such a strategy would require us to go against our current policy of making stars & not signing them,
as it is difficult to generate merchandising interest on most internal developed players unless you have a winning team or an exceptional performance or season by an individual.
The easiest way is to generate volume by signing 1-2 recognised players to freshen the squad.
By way of example Cazorla & Sahin could well be those names to compliment Podolski & Giroud.
CFC will be generating HUGE merchandising from the likes of Hazard & Oscar,
as will ManU with Kagawa.

Great point that is very underrated in my opinion, a big name would boost sales in many different ways.

Another failure of the Youth Era is putting in average to good talents rather than only Cescs and Wilsheres. It is a double gamble if a youngster isn't even a wonderkid, that is in no way more effective financially, than signing Mata-Alonso-Reina and earning more in Cup prices, ticket sales, etc. Two Denilsons and Diabys eat up the same wages as a Mata would, and it is a nobrainer that I'd rather have him than the two useless guys.

Great point that is very underrated in my opinion, a big name would boost sales in many different ways.

Another failure of the Youth Era is putting in average to good talents rather than only Cescs and Wilsheres. It is a double gamble if a youngster isn't even a wonderkid, that is in no way more effective financially, than signing Mata-Alonso-Reina and earning more in Cup prices, ticket sales, etc. Two Denilsons and Diabys eat up the same wages as a Mata would, and it is a nobrainer that I'd rather have him than the two useless guys.

Problem being that until we improve our cash flow (as a result of not doing anything to improve our commercial revenues since the stadium project began),
we are penny wise & pound foolish - we won't spend any more than the bare minimum let alone spend an 'extra' to make more revenue or profit.

I'm very curious as to how a transfer works exactly.

Surely it can't be something as simple as Arsène ringing up the board and mentioning a player he likes, then they work it out and try to make it happen.

It's the one thing i have trouble faulting Arsène for. He controls what he can with the players he has. On the pitch, the training ground, and in the locker room they are his to manipulate. But I highly doubt that he has as much of a hand in transfers as many credit him for. (referring to the "we lost this match because of x reason, if only Arsène had signed ________)

Just something I've always wondered.

I'm very curious as to how a transfer works exactly.

Surely it can't be something as simple as Arsène ringing up the board and mentioning a player he likes, then they work it out and try to make it happen.

It's the one thing i have trouble faulting Arsène for. He controls what he can with the players he has. On the pitch, the training ground, and in the locker room they are his to manipulate. But I highly doubt that he has as much of a hand in transfers as many credit him for. (referring to the "we lost this match because of x reason, if only Arsène had signed ________)

Just something I've always wondered.

Had read something along the lines that AW determines who he wants and how much he's prepared to pay as minimum & maximum re fee and wages based upon the given transfer budget,
and then the team take it from there to negotiate within those parametres.

It used to be Dein who did the signing & he used to also sometimes tell AW that he needed to pay the extra to get it done,
whereas now with Gazidis & Co I don't think AW's word is 'challenged' as such.

IMO if Dein was still here we'd NOT have missed on the likes of Alonso or Mata for the sake of a few mill in fee or wages.

Ivan Gazidis appointed to governing posts

Arsenal Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis has joined the FA’s Professional Game Board (PGB) and the FA Council ahead of the 2012/13 season.

The two prestigious appointments will see Gazidis contribute to the decision-making process at the game’s governing level, impacting the way the sport develops from grassroots upwards.

As one of four appointments made by the Premier League to the PGB, Gazidis will play a key role in supporting and advising the FA Board on matters relating to the professional game. The committee has a broad remit including administering the FA Cup, the national England set-up and the FA’s relationship with FIFA and UEFA.

Gazidis also becomes one of eight Premier League representatives to sit on the FA Council for the 2012/13 campaign. The body recently gave its vote in support of a significant youth development review which will see small-sided games made mandatory for players up to under-12 level, phased in by the start of the 2014/15 season.

In addition to these new appointments, Gazidis will continue his work with a number of the senior governing bodies with which he is already involved. These include FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber, the European Clubs Association where he is chairman of the Legal Advisory Panel, and the Premier League Working Group for Elite Player Performance.

Gazidis said: “I am delighted to be joining these important footballing bodies. The appointments mean Arsenal will be represented in many of the key debates in the game both here in the UK and in Europe.”

link

The prime example of this being Real's claims that they recovered the fee paid for Ronaldo in the first season via shirt sales.

I don't believe thats true at all. Whats the margin on a jersey?

The prime example of this being Real's claims that they recovered the fee paid for Ronaldo in the first season via shirt sales.

I don't believe thats true at all. Whats the margin on a jersey?

I don't have the links but it's what they claimed.
No idea re mark-ups involved but ManU supposedly have a world wide fan base in excess of 350m in a recent article IIRC & Real are supposedly BIGGER than that.
Even if they made only 35m from shirt sales per season that still pays for his transfer prior to the expiry of the initial contract and ahead of player amortisation.

I thought ManUre had a 700m worldwide fanbase? tbh, it is a pointless task as many of them will be inactive in terms of shirt sales, but I could certainly see 8m people buying a Ronaldo jersey. At £10 per shirt, they made the money back. The wages are another matter

Of course they are speculative figures.

I would imagine if a player is to be sold the only person signing that off is Arsène Wenger. He then will leave it upto the person managing the transfer to set prices etc for us to sell players. Sadly for us however it doesnt matter if we set a price agreeable between the clubs if the player involved wants to sit on his arse and collect more money from us then when his contract is up collect a huge signing on fee as a freeagent to a new club.
Furthermore in addition to signings I would be willing to speculate between Arsène and the board there is a meeting in the middle for prices. While I view both risk adverse i.e. high fee's I feel personally Arsène would be the most risk adverse because in his head spending X million more on player Y means our own player Z will not get game time and therefore if we sell playing Z eventually his value will not be as high as it could have been.

Essentially does say buying M'Vila (player Y) for 20m instead of 15m have an effect on say Frimpong (player Z). Arsène views an ideal price for M'Vila as 15m but is willing to goto 20m because he knows he can sell Frimpong for 5m and therefore cover the shortfall. However if the price goes above 20 he knows he cannot cover that price so invests time in making Frimpong a more expensive player. Whereas I think the board within reason will say as long as its not 25m then we will pay the extra few because we can still sell Frimpong and recoup some of the money.

Again this is just speculation based on pereived gains and losses arising from player acquisation.

Ivan Gazidis appointed to governing posts

Arsenal Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis has joined the FA’s Professional Game Board (PGB) and the FA Council ahead of the 2012/13 season.

Impressive, hopefully moving to having some of the the influence that David Dein.