Summer Transfer Misery and Recriminations.

[Kano]

Why are people always so shocked by the obvious. I imagine Draxler for instance, would have consulted Ozil about coming. what do you think his advice would be?

Brush up on your CB skills and see you in a few weeks.

[Xhaka Can’t]

Some people have a problem with media speculation being discussed. Can't win.

Thank-you for not discussing the outside world.

[Xhaka Can’t]

Why are people always so shocked by the obvious. I imagine Draxler for instance, would have consulted Ozil about coming. what do you think his advice would be?

"Never go ass to mouth".

[Power n Glory]

"Never go ass to mouth".

[Özim]

Why are people always so shocked by the obvious. I imagine Draxler for instance, would have consulted Ozil about coming. what do you think his advice would be?

Don't believe a word they say to you, it's all BS.

[Özim]

Arsene Wenger news conference

"Fans today are better informed, have stronger opinions. It's more difficult but you still have to be strong enough to do the things you feel are right.

"I focus on my job and do exactly 100% what I think is right. I think I have shown in 20 years that it does not work too badly. There are 55 games in a season and if after one game we cannot play good football then we cannot do our job. You have to bounce back. It makes perhaps more of an echo with [losing] the first game but it's still only one game."

Wenger is asked about Leicester striker Jamie Vardy - who turned down a move to Arsenal this summer. Did Vardy give a reason why?

"Erm, no... You have to respect people's decisions. That is part of it.

"On the whole transfer market there is very little happening because of the availability of players. You can play huge amounts of money for average players - there are plenty of those - but to find the ones who will strengthen your squad, that is more difficult.

More from Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger on transfers. Measured, thoughtful, cautious.

"We are not scared to spend money but to buy in itself is not a quality - to buy good players is. This club has been built on that.

"The transfer policy we have had here has helped build the club. I know we haven't done as much as many people but we are out there. I have made 400 transfers in my life and I know every one has a rhythm that you are not the only one to decide on.

"It's better for me not to speak about any player. But I would like to reassure you that we are not afraid to spend the money we have and we are working very hard."

He's made 400 transfers and 20,000 substitutions in his life and everyone has a rythm

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

I mention Ferguson because it's a comparison of personalities. You rightly say Wenger's micromanagement is part of his personality. Fergie delegates. That says something about his personality. It's relevant. A manager that isn't as obsessive as Wenger would delegate and be more decisive with decisions. They wouldn't take on more than they could handle.

The structure of the club has changed since Dein. Ivan Gazidis has come in along with Dick Law who handles the negotiations. The problem we have is Wenger having the final say. I can't see many other clubs not consulting the manager on player issues. That often leads to trouble. We've seen it fail at Spurs, Newcastle, Liverpool etc. What we have here is far from perfect but most of people that have come in are having to work with a manager that has had his own way for a long time. The biggest problem we have is the lack of backbone. Somebody should have given Wenger his marching orders. Set down the bare minimum. I think we have seen windows where it looks like Wenger has been pressured to sign players. But it shouldn't be a struggle every window to convince a ma her to pull his finger out. I wouldn't want the structure to change to make it more difficult for a new manager to work but I'd definitely want to see stricter targets.

First off I never said the club wouldn't consult the manager on player decisions, it's about doing as much as possible to unburden the manager of the nitty gritty of the details when it isn't their number one priority. Saying Wenger has taken it upon himself is a cop out, if they were unhappy with that arrangement they should have been more assertive so it suggests they are either happy to do sod all or they don't have the balls to reign Wenger in....either way that doesn't give you confidence that the same thing wouldn't happen with another manager.
I'm hoping that I'm wrong and Gazidis has more control over a new guy than he does with Wenger, the ability to overrule him when it proves necessary etc which he does not have at the moment.
You hear it in everything we read, Wenger calls the shots....and it's not good because it's Wenger. I also just think it wouldn't be good whoever it was. Everyone has their place in the hierarchy and the managers employers should always be above him.

[Chippy]

Not landing Mahrez is a huge blow. We either tried and failed, or were never actually in for him in the first place. Either way it adds to our shambles of a summer.

I understand there isn't a wealth of striking options out there to choose from, but surely one of Mkhitaryan, Mahrez or Draxler should have been quite feasible? Any one of those would significantly improve our starting line up.

I'm not surprised with how the summer is panning out as we have seen it time and time again, but you do wonder what the club is playing at. They must know the fan unrest is at an all time high?

Do they? They can only see 60,000 people are willing to pay through the nose every other week and the majority sing Arsene Wenger's name.

[Power n Glory]

First off I never said the club wouldn't consult the manager on player decisions, it's about doing as much as possible to unburden the manager of the nitty gritty of the details when it isn't their number one priority. Saying Wenger has taken it upon himself is a cop out, if they were unhappy with that arrangement they should have been more assertive so it suggests they are either happy to do sod all or they don't have the balls to reign Wenger in....either way that doesn't give you confidence that the same thing wouldn't happen with another manager.
I'm hoping that I'm wrong and Gazidis has more control over a new guy than he does with Wenger, the ability to overrule him when it proves necessary etc which he does not have at the moment.
You hear it in everything we read, Wenger calls the shots....and it's not good because it's Wenger. I also just think it wouldn't be good whoever it was. Everyone has their place in the hierarchy and the managers employers should always be above him.

“I work every day with Ivan, believe me he is highly motivated to bring players in,” said Wenger ahead of tonight’s friendly with Chivas de Guadalajara.

“Sometimes I have to calm him down. I believe as well this is a period where everybody wants to dream, and transfers bring dreams.

We brought in Gazidis and Dick Law to handle transfers and negotiations but they still have to consult with Wenger. Is that not an attempt to ease the burden or at least a change in structure? The above quote could be an example of the everyday struggle we have with Wenger and I'll refer you back to Arshavin transfer or even the year we panic bought Arteta, Merts and co on the deadline day of the window. Wenger distanced himself from having much to do with that last day panic for some reason. Maybe he didn't agree with some of the purchases and why we ended up with dross like Park and Santos....I don't know. But if that were the case and he wasn’t consulted, it’s why I want the manager to have some input on who we buy. I wouldn’t want a Spurs situation where they blow nearly £100m on players the manager didn’t ask for and when it doesn’t work the manager gets the sack.

Knowing Wenger’s stubborn nature, do you think he’s easy to work with? Do you think it’s an easy task for Ivan and Dick to tell Wenger to do something he’s against? This isn’t a cop out when I say Wenger takes on more than he should. It’s his character and you’ve said this yourself. We don’t know how assertive the staff around Wenger have had to be to push deals through. I have my suspicions. A few I’ve mentioned already, but think back to when Gazidis publically laid out the expectations with our new financial power and the pressure was on Wenger. I think that was the turning point and where the spotlight was firmly set on Wenger. We ended up signing Ozil and I also remember the backlash when he was considering going into the season with Sanogo when Giroud was injured. Could he have been pressured into signing Welbeck by Ivan? Maybe.

Change is certainly needed. We’re still working towards being up there with clubs like Bayern. It will take time for that to happen. Maybe if we had more footballing brains at Board level, we’d see a shift and Wenger booted. But partly why I argue for the manager to be the stimulus for change is because it’s how we’re the club we are today. We brought in Wenger in 1996 and the culture changed. I don’t think it’s impossible for that to happen again. I don’t think we’re that broken internally that we’re totally stuffed. I’d be more worried if we had the sort of set up we’ve seen at Spurs and Liverpool and we had Board members that always seem to think they know more than the manager. That’s a dangerous set up. Madrid have that as well but they’re funded by government money so they can afford to break and rebuild teams and bring in a new manager every 3 years. We’re not at that level. I’d prefer the Board to stay open and flexible and not develop the sort of stubborn streak we now see in our manager where they’re so arrogant that can’t learn anything new.

Ok that’s my stance on the matter. Good debate.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

I do wonder if you seem to think I'm arguing from a position that Wenger shouldn't be relieved of his position, I am just not going to lie and pretend I think things will be markedly better with a new manager. The culture at the club largely created by Wenger has been unchecked by those in the top echelons, trying to suggest they are powerless to do anything about Wenger is outrageous....and it plays into my belief that as bad as he is, he has been an all too convenient lightning rod for a do nothing club that simply does not care about any football aspect of Arsenal FC.
That doesn't give me confidence that a) we can attract the cream of football management or b) we can get the best out of any manager we are able to bring in.
I'd love to think I'm wrong, but the evidence is on one hand the board are unfailingly positive about Wenger and the job he is doing but on the other hand are keen to brief against him in the media. It doesn't speak highly of Wenger that he's prepared to stay in this environment - which speaks to his control freakery. I simply don't think another manager would put up with it, and what I think we possibly might see is a state of flux where managers last no longer than a season or so because they aren't getting the proper support from their employers. Whilst I don't want another manager here for 20 years, as most managers get stale and Ferguson is an outlier to this....I think we arguably want an average shelf life of a manager to be five years.