Raul Sanllehi

[Marc Overmars]

He’s left. :blink:

https://www.arsenal.com/news/club-update

So much going on structurally at this club. We need stability.

I do wonder if there’s more than meets the eye to this...

[Letters]

The “head of football”?
What does that mean?
Sounds important but to be honest I’ve never heard of him.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Never heard of him? :sarcy:

Anyway guess it didn't take long to work out who was behind the Pepe transfer then.

[Letters]

No, I’ve never heard of him.
I don’t obsessively follow football or goings on at Arsenal.
I think I’ve made that pretty clear over the last few years.
“Head of football” is a meaningless, made up job title.
What did he even do?

[I am invisible]

Wow! That Tim Lewis guy doesn’t mess around.

Or maybe Raul has just scarpered at the first hint on an investigation?

Whatever - I’m just glad he’s gone. The very best I can find to say about him is he was incompetent and out of his depth as DoF - at worst, well... you can draw your own conclusions there.

I guess this is also a warning shot to Edu - you get the benefit of the doubt for now, but you’d better have more up your sleeve than more expensive, ageing clients from your own agent.

[I am invisible]

Never heard of him? :sarcy:

Anyway guess it didn't take long to work out who was behind the Pepe transfer then.
And the Emery appointment, and not firing Emery’s ass sooner, and actually wanting to offer Emery and extension (*shudder*) and any number of other costly deals where there’s been little benefit or return for the club.

How much did we pay for Denis Suarez again for less than 90 minutes of crap football?

[McNamara That Ghost...]

You don't need to be 'obsessively following', which seems quite pejorative to me. to have seen he gets mentioned on here. :lol:

[Gooner23]

Is Letters on the wind up? :lol:

Pretty ruthless from the Kroenkes, bringing in their guy to analyse the finances and this talk of an investigation into the Pepe deal can't be a coincidence.

[GP]

Bye bye Don Raul.

[I am invisible]

Is Letters on the wind up? :lol:

Pretty ruthless from the Kroenkes, bringing in their guy to analyse the finances and this talk of an investigation into the Pepe deal can't be a coincidence.
Yeah, the parting messages are all very cordial and very Arsenal, but you can’t look past the timing - news leaks of an investigation into our transfer dealings and a couple of days later our DoF is gone? Doesn’t take a genius to work out what’s gone on there.

Hopefully this is a sign that the Kroenkes are FINALLY starting to pay some kind of attention to this club that they bought.

[Letters]

You don't need to be 'obsessively following', which seems quite pejorative to me. to have seen he gets mentioned on here. :lol:

When was the last time he got a mention? He’s not going to be mentioned in the context of a match thread or match reaction thread which is most of the threads in here.

I don’t think anyone needs to justify how much or little they follow things. You’re the ones doing spit takes at the idea that I don’t know who this is :lol:

[GP]

When was the last time he got a mention? He’s not going to be mentioned in the context of a match thread or match reaction thread which is most of the threads in here.

I don’t think anyone needs to justify how much or little they follow things. You’re the ones doing spit takes at the idea that I don’t know who this is :lol:

I am surprised you don't know Don Raul.

He's got the best voice.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EZIx_LaWho

[McNamara That Ghost...]

When was the last time he got a mention? He’s not going to be mentioned in the context of a match thread or match reaction thread which is most of the threads in here.

I don’t think anyone needs to justify how much or little they follow things. You’re the ones doing spit takes at the idea that I don’t know who this is :lol:

No I am questioning your statement. When was he last mentioned? Only a few pages back on the transfer thread.

[Marc Overmars]

Sounds like Edu will have the most power and influence going forward.

[I am invisible]

So does this mean Kia is our new Head of Football?

[Marc Overmars]

He might as well be. :lol:

The fact he is going on talksport and openly talking about our affairs and giving his 2 cents doesn’t really sit well with me.

[I am invisible]

I know! How brazen can you get?

He’s got some neck to be criticising somebody else’s deals when his record amounts to a couple of guys in their 30s on £200k/wk and a guy who couldn’t get a game for Southampton.

[dazthegooner]

Vinai Venkatesham is taking over never heard of him but he's been with the club since 2010.

[Mac76]

Seriously people haven't heard of Raul or Vinai...???

Raul is dodgy as fuck and i'm glad to see the back of him although it bothers me if Kia is still acting like he's got his claws into us, i'd hope Raul going might signal a change of direction away from signing whoever Kia wanted to sell to us

[I am invisible]

Vinai Venkatesham is taking over never heard of him but he's been with the club since 2010.
Vinnai’s the guy who got grifted in that sponsorship scam...

https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d3d774e7955444f78457a6333566d54/share.html

[Marc Overmars]

Seriously people haven't heard of Raul or Vinai...???

Raul is dodgy as fuck and i'm glad to see the back of him although it bothers me if Kia is still acting like he's got his claws into us, i'd hope Raul going might signal a change of direction away from signing whoever Kia wanted to sell to us

I doubt it because Kia also represents Edu. :lol:

This might even strengthen his influence.

[Mac76]

I doubt it because Kia also represents Edu. :lol:

This might even strengthen his influence.

Yeah i'm realising that now :(

I thought it was Raul that was his main 'in' but apparently not....

[Penguin]

I've got to say, Edu doesn't fill me with confidence. He has probably got the right intentions but I don't think he knows what he's doing.

[I am invisible]

Jury’s still out on Edu - hard to tell what he has or hasn’t done (or maybe hasn’t been able to do) with Raul there, but there’s no hiding place now. I don’t mind him turning to his agent sometimes, but he needs to deliver something that has no ties to Kia now...

[dazthegooner]

Also rumours going round that Barca may try and get Arteta when they sack wotisname.

[Mac76]

Also rumours going round that Barca may try and get Arteta when they sack wotisname.

If the deal includes xhaka and mustafi i'm in

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Also rumours going round that Barca may try and get Arteta when they sack wotisname.

Absolutely no chance.

[I am invisible]

Absolutely no chance.
:good:

[LDG]

Absolutely no chance.

Well thats put the fucking mockers on that.

[selassie]

I think Raul has been played here by Edu & Kia. Edu clearly calls the shot now, but with Kia having such a big influence he is covertly having a big say in our moves.

Im not entirely happy about this, but if we can secure some of the well known targets we are chasing then I’m cool with things as they are up till a point.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Well thats put the fucking mockers on that.

I don't have that kind of Imaginary Internet Power.

[dazthegooner]

Absolutely no chance.

Well thats good and it now seems that Arteta will have the final say on transfers.

[I am invisible]

The fans, players (current and former), owners, exec team and media all love Arteta - he’ll have time and backing here while he’s making a name for himself as a coach.

If he went to Barca he’d be out of a job by Christmas, and he knows it. 100% not happening.

[Letters]

I am surprised you don't know Don Raul.

He's got the best voice

He’s no Morgan Freeman but it is quite good tbf.
I still have no idea what he actually did :lol:

[I am invisible]

I think Raul has been played here by Edu & Kia. Edu clearly calls the shot now, but with Kia having such a big influence he is covertly having a big say in our moves.

Im not entirely happy about this, but if we can secure some of the well known targets we are chasing then I’m cool with things as they are up till a point.
I don’t think there’s any great conspiracy here - as they said on Le Grove, the guy was just a chancer, plain and simple, and he got found out. Nothing he did was clever or impressive - it doesn’t take any skill to get in the phone to a super-agent, accept any player they have available and get butt-fucked on the deal - and as Head of Football he clearly had no vision or plan for the club and didn’t really know what he was doing (which is probably why he leant on agents for answers). Ultimately he made a notoriously frugal billionaire look like a mug in public when all these stories started to leak, and that was only going to end one way.

Likewise with Edu, I don’t think there’s any great conspiracy there (not on his part, anyway) - if anything, I suspect it’s been the other way round, and Kia has used his relationship with Edu to weasel his way into an introduction to Raul, a known contacts man, so he can completely bypass his client. Whether Edu is competent as Technical Director I couldn’t say - jury’s still out on that - but it sounds like he works closely with Arteta so I hope he has the club’s best interests at heart? At the very least, the owners clearly have eyes on what’s going on now in the form of Tim Lewis, so you’d have to be special kind of stupid to try ripping the club off at the moment.

[I am invisible]

He’s no Morgan Freeman but it is quite good tbf.
I still have no idea what he actually did :lol:
Yeah, that’s kind of the problem - I’m not sure anyone knows what he did... and he’s the guy who was running the club!

[Mac76]

At the very least, the owners clearly have eyes on what’s going on now in the form of Tim Lewis, so you’d have to be special kind of stupid to try ripping the club off at the moment.

Yeah people like to have a go at the Kroenkes but it was them who put a stop to Raul's plan to offer Emery a new contract, and now they've ditched him, let's give them some credit

[Mac76]

Here's the Vinai interview, nothing surprising but is it really true to say there are 'hundreds of millions' of Arsenal fans worldwide?

Maybe we've done better in those Far Eastern 'markets' than i thought we had...

https://www.arsenal.com/news/interview-vinai-venkatesham

[I am invisible]

Yeah people like to have a go at the Kroenkes but it was them who put a stop to Raul's plan to offer Emery a new contract, and now they've ditched him, let's give them some credit
Something seems to have sparked the Kroenkes into life this last summer because up until then their interest in the goings on at this club has been minimal and their reactions absolutely glacial.

I don’t know whether gaining 100% control has made a difference to their ambitions, or maybe it’s just that the people they’ve left in charge since Wenger have made them look like idiots, but whatever the reason I welcome their increased interest and oversight. If nothing else it’s at least an indication that they have some kind of ambitions for us, Even if it’s just to be decent, and won’t tolerate abject failure and incompetence.

[I am invisible]

Here's the Vinai interview, nothing surprising but is it really true to say there are 'hundreds of millions' of Arsenal fans worldwide?

Maybe we've done better in those Far Eastern 'markets' than i thought we had...

https://www.arsenal.com/news/interview-vinai-venkatesham
Ok, sure - he comes across ok. Sounds genuine, and sounds like an Arsenal man. That’s all good. Same as with Edu I guess - jury’s still out, but he gets a clean slate and a fresh start to show that he’s the right man for their job...

[Letters]

When was he last mentioned? Only a few pages back on the transfer thread.

*checks*
True, tbf. And it was in a reply to me which I did see but didn't read carefully and if I did see the name then me not recognising it didn't really register.
I'd suggest that he is, in general, fairly rarely mentioned in here or in the press.
I'm sure he is here and there but, famously, I really don't follow it all that closely any more. By "it" I mean goings on at Arsenal and football in general.

And I still have no real clue what it is he actually did for us. Sounds like a phoney baloney made up title to me.
When I was a kid there was no "director of football" or "head of football". Fine, things move on but I haven't got the foggiest clue what this role is or why it's needed.