Arsenal and Mikel Arteta: Henry Winter is half-right but so wrong

Henry Winter has slammed the potential appointment of Mikel Arteta as having a soft underbelly. He is half-right, but oh so wrong at the same time.

Arsenal are entering the closing stages of their search for a new manager. It has been a month-long process, although has only been pursued in earnest since the season finished a week ago out of respect for Arsene Wenger.

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Nevertheless, as time rumbles and the myriad of candidates has been whittled down, the picture has become clearer and clearer, with only one or two names now remaining in the hunt. The leading man? That honour belongs to Mikel Arteta.

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It is not an especially popular appointment, if Arteta is indeed to be appointed as the new manager, as is seemingly increasingly likely. One man who is quite critical of the decision is journalist Henry Winter. Speaking on Sky Sports’ Sunday Supplement, Winter protested that the Gunners need an individual who is willing to challenge the soft underbelly that has infected the culture of the club for far too long:

"“Arsenal need a complete clear out – they need a strong, experienced, individual to address the failings. They need a Diego Simeone type. Someone who is tough and can get into that soft dressing room, that soft boardroom – there is a soft executive feel at that club. There is a malaise that runs right through the club, which won’t be solved by Wenger going – he was only partly the cause of it. They need stronger individuals in there.”"

In principle, I do not disagree with Winter. I have been saying for some time that the new manager must be a person who can change the culture of the club, on the pitch, in the corridors of power, in the boardrooms of London Colney, and in the stanchions of the Emirates. But Winter has little reason for doubting whether Arteta is or is not that man.

His point rests on the fact that Arteta was a player at the club during these troublesome years, implying that he will replicate the same fallacies that saw the team repeatedly fail as was present during that time. But it is a stretch of logic to say that Arteta the player and Arteta the coach are the same person.

He has obviously learned a lot from his playing time. But he is not unaware of the shortcomings of the club at that time. If anything, because he lived through them and saw them from the inside, he is more aware of their origins and influence. Why should Arteta not be given the opportunity to try and change the culture of the club?

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Winter, then, is simultaneously right and wrong. He is correct in asserting that Arsenal need a strong, forceful, atmosphere-altering individual as manager. But to question whether Arteta can be that man before he has ever been given a chance seems a little harsh to me. Maybe he is; maybe he isn’t. Either way, he deserves a shot.