When Was The Damage Done?

[RWB]

ofc there are not one single thing that led to this situation, and some things go way back. But I really think that one of the more recent things that really f'ed us was Gazidis leaving when he did (or perhaps that Arsenal did not replace him with a new proper CEO).

The organization put in place to prepare for Wenger's departure was really promising, with experienced people in charge of different departments. The idea to balance the two different recruitment philosophies of Mislintat and Raul etc. But it all came crashing down when Raul was left to run all footballing matters himself together with shady agents. and then with every person leaving they have either not been replaced or been replaced with a less experienced person/promoted from within. So now we are back to a organization with a lot of power concentrated in a few persons. But this time the person with all the responsibilities is not Wenger but rather two total novices in Arteta and Edu, and the board is basically just two disinterested Americans and their lawyer. I get the thing that the Kroenke's like to be hands-off owners and leave it to more knowledgeable people, but they should at least make sure that the club is run by a proper CEO then. Someone that is capable of getting the right persons in to ensure that the club functions properly.

Just compare the situation when we looked for a replacement to Wenger to if the club would look for a replacement to Arteta. In 2018 the search was led by Gazidis, Raul and Mislintat, who would be tasked with finding a new head coach today??? Edu, who really has no experience in running a club? Vinai who has never been involved in footballing matters at the club before? The American owners who know nothing about the sport? Tim Lewis? I am not sure that the club would even know who to recruit if they decided to get rid of Mikel. The process of rebuilding needs to start with recruitments of a new CEO and a new sporting director before we even think about recruiting a new permanent head coach.

 

[Iceman10]

For me a lot was avoidable if it wasn't for that transfer window where 100m was spent on Pepe and Saliba. None of that was of immediate use for Emery, he was unlucky with Tierney arriving with injury issues also, and on top of that when a long-term bet was made on Saliba we had Kos force his way out last minute before the season started. Remember, this was the summer after we had finished in 5th, and should have finished higher if it wasn't for the late season collapse.

 

[HairSprayGooners]

When we took too long to sack Wenger and rebuild. Should've gone in 2015 and we should've got Klopp

 

[Penn_]

When they tried to restructure post Wenger and gave the manager less weight in player recruitment.

We went for the underdog appointment in Emery then failed to give him the tools he wanted.

Emery wanted a tank in midfield and we gave him Torerria.

 

[MartiSaka]

About the time Frimpong started to talk about Dench

 

[GoonerJay24]

When they tried to restructure post Wenger and gave the manager less weight in player recruitment.

We went for the underdog appointment in Emery then failed to give him the tools he wanted.

Emery wanted a tank in midfield and we gave him Torerria.

Wasn't Torreria Emery's signing?

Also when looking back at some of our matches with Emery, I don't think you can say he's an underdog coach. We played some good attacking football at times.

 

[CaseUteinberger]

When Klopp was available and we extended Wenger instead. Yes we won 2 FA Cups afterwards but that would have been the perfect time to rebuild.

Klopp would have been perfect. Great couch who can compete with better funded clubs. If you can challenge and beat Bayern in the BL you know how to manage.

 

[CaseUteinberger]

When they tried to restructure post Wenger and gave the manager less weight in player recruitment.

We went for the underdog appointment in Emery then failed to give him the tools he wanted.

Emery wanted a tank in midfield and we gave him Torerria.

Didn’t he also want Zaha instead of Pepe?

 

[Penn_]

Wasn't Torreria Emery's signing?

Also when looking back at some of our matches with Emery, I don't think you can say he's an underdog coach. We played some good attacking football at times.

Only in the sense he was signed while Emery was manager, think we’d been tracking him for a while. Emery clearly wanted some height and presence in midfield.

By underdog I meant more that he wasn’t the star name like Allegri. We played some beautiful stuff under him at the start. The Wenger flair mixed with Emery’s organisation is all that team needed really.

 

[gunner4lyfe]

Wenger was still better than Klopp during this time and we were going to challenge for the title that season. No need for a rebuild with prime Cazorla, Koscielny, Özil, Monreal, Alexis and Ramsey.

And what did Wenger do afterwards? Buy only a GK when we needed another defender and CF, bought Perez, Mustafi and Xhaka while losing the likes of Gnabry for peanuts because he wanted to keep Lolcott. Lol. When Klopp was available that would have been the perfect time to transition. Maybe rebuild was a strong word to use.

 

[GoonerJay24]

And what did Wenger do afterwards? Buy only a GK when we needed another defender and CF, bought Perez, Mustafi and Xhaka while losing the likes of Gnabry for peanuts because he wanted to keep Lolcott. Lol. When Klopp was available that would have been the perfect time to transition. Maybe rebuild was a strong word to use.

The following season, 2015-16 he wanted to bring in players but only world class talent that added cohesion to that group.
You forget Alexis, Coquelin, Arteta, Wilshere, Rosicky, Chamberlain, Mertersacker, Walcott, Gibbs and most importantly Cazorla were all out for large periods of that campaign. So ten key squad players and worse than Liverpool's this injury crisis this season.

The following year fair enough, he got it wrong with Mustafi and I'm not sure what happened with Perez but always felt like he wasn't given a chance. Wengers biggest weakness in that era was his belief in certain players and lack of tactical flexibility, especially in the champions League. Injuries were our real undoing though between 2014-2016.

 

[dashsnow17]

Again, for discussions like this they'd benefit from having an Arsenal fan in the room to remind them of a few simple facts, such as '13 league titles'. No doubt we've been poor in Europe, and last 20 years Chelsea have been better, they're closing the gap, another 20 years like this and they'll overtake us, I admit that. But until they approach 13 titles I don't see how they have the gumption to say they're bigger.

 

[Why]

October 2012...

 

[Jury]

October 2012...

Why?

 

[Jury]

In the grand scheme, have we really declined? You’re judged on silverware in this game, and we’ve won more than everyone bar City in the last 6 years

We won **** all for nigh on ten years under Wenger before that... Not a bean.

Are we overthinking this?

 

[#254]

Before and after there have been some baffling moves.

Deciding against buying Koscielny when he cost 1M then buying him a year later for 10 times that.

Debuchy over someone like Trippier. We became excellent at wasting money on medium priced acquisitions with little resale value.

This.

 

[kash2]

oh my god...the troll bum squad finally admits damage has been done.

Acceptance is the first step.

 

[Gooner416]

Was never the same once helmet joined.

 

[Blood on the Tracks]

Even though we go after the club and the way it's been mismanaged over the years ( And it has been)
I'd say it's external factors that have probably had the biggest impact on the damage done to the club.

The day Abramovich bought Chelsea is one of the most pivotal days in modern English football history in hindsight. Sure we'd had Blackburn kind of buy their way to a title previously but it was on a much smaller scale and the vision for it and long term impact on English football was much smaller.
Abramovich and what he did at Chelsea really opened the floodgates for various other foreign billionaires individuals / entities to fundamentally alter the fabric of the PL.

So that's the date I'd choose.

We just couldn't compete long term with these clubs with huge resources. Wenger did his best though and kept us in contention for longer than you'd expect. It was inevitable in the end though.

 

[kash2]

the day the inmates took over the asylum.