re: The Arsenal 2017/18: Au revoir Arsene, et merci.

Sokratis is imminent it seems. Tidy business if so.

Losing Ramsey would be such a gut punch but if we get money for him and he goes to Spain it’s not a disaster.

Will be fascinating to see if Arteta or whoever takes over can incorporate all of LMAO into the attack and still build defensive stability.

Someone tell me about Sokratis.

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Was Orgeron a hotly pursued coach immediately after finishing his playing career that got to pick between working beside two of the best head coaches in his field? Was he educated in America’s most prestigious football academy? Was he captain of the LSU football team? Did Joe Alleva help govern Duke to an improbable berth in the national championship? Did Arteta manage West Ham to three dismal seasons while taking his shirt off and challenging players to fights? Awful comparison. Arteta may not work out but he is absolutely intellectually up for the task and Sven, Mislentat and co. have a proven track record as executives.

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Oh brother. Great refutation of my points, if arguing on a junior-high level is the ceiling. So if the parallel doesn't line up in EVERY single instance--Arteta saying "yaw yaw" for instance, then none of it is valid. Right.

The GENERAL CORPORATE PLAN is spot on. Hire an unproven coach who has never managed. He will have no transfer authority. Trumpet "a new way of doing business" to mask going cheap and settling for being a "good" team instead of a cup-winning team. You have an untested rookie manager who has no business learning-on-the-job with a world powerhouse, but he of course is eager to take the job even with the restraints.

THOSE parallels are valid and you can just wrestle with them all you want to.

I said before, Sean McVay and the Rams are a totally different story. The Rams were a shite show and had to gamble on an untested quantity. I'm glad that worked out; I'm a lifelong Rams fan. But Arsenal should not have to gamble.

Another parallel with LSU: it seems some are taking the same tack that O-pumpers are--"Well, no one else wanted to come." If Allegri, etc., turn you down, there are other proven winning managers. You be strong, roll up your sleeves and SELL a manager on Arsenal's tradition, potential, and prestige. You don't go cheap when your first options for proven, winning managers don't work out.

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Was he captain of the LSU football team?

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Lol. So THIS is a qualification to manage the club? I personally didn't think Arteta was that impressive a captain, but that's beside the point.

If we were both fans of the 1969 Washington Senators, you'd no doubt be saying "Ted Williams was the greatest left-handed hitter of all time." How did that translate into him being a manager? Look it up. I'll wait.

But my parallel is valid here, since whether you intended to or not, you are touting Arteta because he's "one of us," another O-pumper argument. (I mean, Orgeron was at LSU all of two days, but you have oilfield and bayou trash who actually think he spent four years at the Ole War Skule. The fact that he didn't is beside the point.)

Bottom line: for world powerhouses in the top leagues, the paradigm of The Boss is still valid. But, like LSU lately, someone is trying to reinvent the wheel. "Let's go cheap on the Head Coach but surround him with great coordinators" becomes, "Let's go cheap with Arteta, but take the transfer authority and managerial administration away from him and make him a 'head coach.'" The entire board should be sacked if and when this strategy goes up in flames.

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Arteta may not work out

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You're right to hedge your bets. Allegri may not have "worked out." Pocket Aces get cracked sometimes. But in poker games, if I bet strong, I'm going to bet strong or go all in on a pair of aces--or at least kings.

I'm not going "all-in" on Jack-Four, which is equivalent to what the Arsenal board is doing with Arteta.

Arteta IN

Yea rumor is he's in London.

Stewart Robson made a great point.

What’s been the big complaint about Arsenal’s players the last five years or so?

They’ve been mentally weak, lacked a “hardass” mindset, and folded up like a card table against big clubs in big situations.

Mikel Arteta was Captain for much of that time.

So you make him manager and he’s all of a sudden going to be this iron-willed leader of men that’s going to lead this club to big trophies?

Please.

wtf is Henry getting interviewed for the job today

I think they really should consider Patrick Viera for the job...Those Arsenal teams he played on were STELLAR and he has management experience.

He's and average MLS manager

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Kroenke is probably going to run this club into the ground.

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A story was on the MSB about the Rams stadium costing almost double what was expected. It will be around $4 billion. I'm guessing this probably means nothing for Arsenal, but offseason mode kicked in when I read this. If this has an impact on Arsenal, would it make him be even more stingy with Arsenal or could it make him more likely to sell?