Arsenal: Management calamity proves mess

It has been officially announced: Sven Mislintat will leave Arsenal in February. The management calamity proves the mess this club is in.

In the final year and years of Arsene Wenger’s reign in north London, moves were made, largely orchestrated by Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis, to reshape the management structures of the club, from the role of the manager or head coach to the figures leading recruitment, scouting, and commercial streams.

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Gazidis conducted an overhaul of the club. Wenger’s role and influence were whittled down, Raul Sanllehi was hired to be everything that a Director of Football does without actually being called a director of football, and Sven Mislintat arrived from Borussia Dortmund as Head of Recruitment.

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So when Wenger was asked to resign in the latter months of last season, there was no a team assembled by Gazidis to aid with the succession process. Indeed, these three individuals were the driving force of conducting the search for Wenger’s successor, eventually settling on former Paris Saint-Germain coach Unai Emery, an intensely detailed and passionate character with a proven track record and excellent understanding of elite football.

In Emery’s introductory press conference, slowly, methodically, and with great attention, Gazidis outlined how he, Mislintat, Sanllehi and ultimately Stan Kroenke came to the decision to appoint Emery, discussing his qualities, the interview process, and their shared ideas for the future direction of the club. Suddenly, Arsenal had a clear and modernised managerial structure, something to lead them forwards as they commenced what Gazidis and Emery described as a new ‘project’.

Sadly, that project, which the club protested was a long-term aim and could not be properly evaluated in the first year or even two years of its implementation, is very quickly and very concerningly falling apart.

It took just four months for Gazidis, the spearhead of this new era, to leave the club, swiftly moving to AC Milan. Another four months later, rumours began to surface that Mislintat could be following Gazidis out of the club, growing frustrated with the role that he had been maligned to by Sanllehi and unhappy with his lack of influence, especially when it came to the transfers the club made. Those rumours were confirmed on Monday.

And so, within eight months of Emery being hired and nine months of Wenger announcing his — forced — resignation, two of the key figures behind the Arsenal revolution have left. If that does not illustrate the management calamity that is currently infecting the organisation, then I do not know what else to tell you.

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Sadly and frankly, Arsenal are in a real mess. They are hamstrung by horrendously overpriced contracts. Their squad is need of serious investment. They have little to no money to spend in the transfer market. They are competing in one of the fiercest periods the Premier League has ever seen. And now they have no one to steer the ship. Titanic, anybody?

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