Gunning for glory!

[AmunRa]

"Some devastating news now for Arsenal fans. Arsene Wenger has stepped down from his post as manager of the club......."

This was all anyone had heard for the past week, "Wenger Quits". I have never known such a reaction to a manager quitting before but I guess it was him.

The news though was not met with the reaction most pundits thought it would be, fans were shocked but not worried. "It's a chance for a new set of ideas at the club now" one said the evening the news had broke and the vast majority agreed with him, Arsene Wenger had done all he could for the team it was time for someone else to have a crack. Never thought it would be me though.

Flash Flash Flash Flash
"So Mr Thomas how does it feel sitting here as manager of Arsenal Football Club?"

I guess I should introduce myself for those who don't know me, my name is James Thomas, my playing career with West Ham was unspectacular but I managed to carve out a good reputation among the fans and even some appearances for England. I got on well with most managers in the league and would pick their brains after each game if I could. I moved into coaching after I retired 4 years ago and went abroad to Dutch side Willem II as a youth coach for a year. It was not a huge success and I was sacked before the end of the season.

I decided to try my luck in Portugal and landed the first team coaches job at Acedemia. Again not a great year for me but I must have impressed someone because I landed the managers job at C.S. Maritimo for the following season. My record was impressive given the squad I had and I managed to guide them into 5th place and the Europa League in my first season in charge. Injuries (God I hate that ****** word) stopped us from progressing and a 9th place finish was all we could achieve and now I am here, sitting at the press desk of Arsenal Football Club being introduced as the new manager of the club.

 

[Cai1234]

Pgreat start, add some picks

 

[AmunRa]

First job, press.


"Well I thought that went rather well..."

"No offence Mr Kroenke but I beg to differ. They total...."
"But they didn't, did they?"

The press conference was painful, it felt more like a police interview and I can understand why, I just didn't like it.

"James, Steve Howard The Sun. So you come here as an unknown manager, do you think the players will respect you?" Thanks a lot Steve.
"I think respect should be earned by everybody, I don't know the people of this club and that is my first job."

"How do plan to keep a hold of your big stars like Robin van Persie"
"Tie him to a chair (pause for laughter.....yes). Look following Arsene would have been daunting for any manager but I will take confidence in the fact that the board trust me, the players and the fans will get a chance to form their own opinions over the coming season."

"Speaking of were do you think you can manage Arsenal to this season?"
"I think we should concentrate on building a winning mentality, the FA Cup would be my target this year and 3rd place in the league. If we can keep our squad fit then we could mount a title challenge but that is a big ask with the Manchester clubs standing in our way."

"Last question who will you bring in to the club and how much money will you have available to do it?"
"The board have given James £43 million pounds for transfers and any money from player sales. He can spend that as he sees fit. Now however he has a club to manage. Good day guys and I have no doubt we shall see you all again very soon."

Every time I watch it I can't help thinking, "That guy looks out of his depth" then I realize that guy is me. I look out of my depth.

Oh well I have work to do, gotta meet the players.

 

[Cai1234]

Trybbyuing Cazorla(11.5m p ex one of youre rubbish 18 year old, malaga), erick Torres (3m), Gvertonghan(11.5m) and leighton Baines(20m). These gyus did class in my Arsenal save.

 

[AmunRa]

Backroom staff needs an overhaul. But so does the youth team.

"Hi, please sit down. Look there is no easy way to put this but I am letting you go with immediate effect. " I have had to say that 14 times today I never expected this. Firing people is exhausting work, I guess that's why Sir Sugar looks like that on "The Apprentice".

I met the players today and surprisingly it went well. No one walked out or handed in a transfer request so I'll take that. After that I called Robin van Persie, Pat Rice, Steve Bould and Martin Keown into my office (still not got used to that) for a chat.

"Robin I need your opinion on were the squad is at right now. You play and train with these guys week in week out, you are the captain of this club now (I hand him the arm band he smiles) and a senior player. I would vakue your words as much as the other guys in this room?"

We have a talk and I come to three conclusions.
Firstly I am screwed, Arsene left the team in a mess. The youth squad is burning money with no return on the investment and only 2 players are worthy of a Carling Cup game. Hence the cull.
Secondly I am screwed, the first team squad is a fractured bunch of middle rated players with a few gems. The transfers made before my appointment are not great and the team don't believe they can win the league.
Thirdly the players like me so not all bad then.

I make small changes to my backroom staff set up promoting Steve Bould to full coach and Martin Keown to first team coach. I have immense respect for both of them and vice-verse, and with Pat Rice retiring at the end of the season I will need a new assistant manager, might as well be one of these guys.

I decided to keep the current staff set-up as it is. It would have cost far to much to release them all so I stuck with it. I asked my assistant Pam, a lovely girl who is very helpful and makes a wicked cup of coffee, to call back all of the current scouts asap and get me Alex Gibson and Julio de Toledo Piza (after I gave her their numbers of course.) In the morning I would start rebuilding Arsenal Football Club.
Good luck mate.

 

[AmunRa]

Transfers. Yay?

"Mr Gibson and Mr Toledo have arrived sir. Should I send them in?"
"Yes please Pam. Thank you."

"Hi Alex nice to see you again." He and I are friends, our paths crossed a few times over the years and he is a good man. Better still he is the right guy for what I need.
"How is the family?"

We talk for about half an hour about football and in particular youth football, the man is passionate I'll give him that. "Would you take a look at this for me mate?"
"Yeah sure"

He takes the file I offer and looks and while he does I replay the conversation I hope to have with him over again in my head, his face goes from concentrated to shocked in a matter of minutes.

"James this is bad, if you carry on like this the club won't survive past the next 10 years 15 tops."
"I know. Alex I need you here to run the youth division under my watch. I will give you whatever you need I just need someone who can turn this around?"

Alex Gibson is a serious guy but his next comment throws me back a little. "You should probably call an exorcist. (We both laugh at that one.) I'll think about it, give me a week?"

Two days later he signs the contract, it might have something to do with my winning smile.
View attachment 245381

"Julio nice to meet you. I have a vacancy and I know you are the right man for the job. I need a first team coach, some one who can bridge the gap between the young players and the senior lads without any problems. You helped bring through some of the top talent at Santos, I need you to do that here."

No banter, no jokes, this guy is new to me and me to him, but that is my pitch. See Julio helped nurture guys like Robinho, Diego, Cicinho and William at Santos. He is all about flair and that is what I want for my side. He asks for a couple of days to consider the offer, Pam lets me know he has agreed to it and I have made four staff appointments without having to pay compensation. Happy days.
View attachment 245382

I had an easier job setting up the new scouting assignments they are spread out like this:

Steve Rowley was sent to look for young talent around the world but he is my chief scout and will be in charge of having a closer look at any promising players the other scouts unearth.
Jurgen Kost will take up a similar role as Rowley as he is my next best scout.

The other ten scouts have been sent around Europe to look for young, talented players with the exception of Everton Gushiken who I sent to South America to find young players.

See I decided that I have enough knowledge of the best players in the world and I doubt I can persuade them to come to the Emirates any way. So I am going to use my scouts to find the next generation of talent. I called another press conference to announce my new captain and staff changes.

"So I am pleased to announce that Robin van Persie will be the new captain of Arsenal Football Club. Robin is the most experienced player in this side and I am happy he has accepted the responsibility. Thomas Vermaelen will take over as the vice-captain, I have every confidence in both Robin and Thomas and believe they will excel in these new roles."

"How have you settled in to your new role? Have the players been welcoming?"
"Yeah they have, everybody at the club has. I have had to make some difficult decisions over the past couple of days (like firing 14 players) but the players and staff have been welcoming. Witch brings me to my next announcement I have appointed four new members to my coaching staff. Steve Bould and Martin Keown will be promoted from their respective roles as youth coach and scout, I know they will do well in their new roles. Also Alex Gibson has joined the coaching staff as has Julio de Toledo Piza these are only the first of the many changes I have in mind for this club."

Next up for me was a conference call with Stan Kroenke and Peter Hill-Wood about my transfer targets what a first few days.

"So James what do you need from us in terms of wages?"
"If you can spare an extra million pound that would be great, I have a few targets in mind but they are mostly young players."

"Well we need you to focus on the first team squad more."
"I understand Sir but wt all due respect I would like to run things my own way. What I mean is the youth program is a mess, we are bleeding out millions of pounds a year on players who are never going to be good enough to challenge for a first team place. The facilities need a serious upgrade and I think we could use a feeder club to send out talented players to get experience."

"Done." "Wait a second here Stan, we need to focus on the senior squad. The fans....."

"Look Peter I think he has a valid point, I have looked at the finances and we do spend too much on players who are not good enough. We have only produced 3 players from the youth system the rest were bought in at expense and not sold for much profit. I am sure James plans to strengthen the senior squad but we need to improve our academy system."

"Thanks Mr Kroenke. Oh before I forget the e-mail you received has a run down of a few players I think can improve the first team squad, Mr Hill-Wood here is your copy."

I handed Peter the single sheet of paper to look at and waited, and waited. Stan Kroenke was the first to speak. "Bold choices I'll give you that. Ok go for it." So while I waited for my first scout report I set about improving my very thin senior squad.

 

[AmunRa]

Good morning Sir you are leaving the club!

"I need to speak to you boss!"
"Ok I can guess why you are here. Look it is nothing personal Johan I just don't think I can find a place for you in the squad. You are a good player but I need to make some tough decisions I am sorry but as soon as we recieve a concrete offer I am afraid you will be leaving the club."

You can guess how that went down can't you? See I had a good look at my squad as a whole and along with the under performing Marouane Chamakh, Johan Djourou is being placed on the transfer list. Both myself and Stan decided it would be best for the club and the players, I feel bad for them both but it needs to be done.

In terms of transfers in I have earmarked three players I think will really help push the club forward and provide cover for the four competitions we are part of this season.

My first transfer in was actually very easy and cheep, see I needed a utility player someone who can play in multiple positions without much problem enter Oscar de Marcos.

I also sought out de Marcos' teammate at Bilbao Fernando Amorebieta to add some depth to my defence.

Robert Lewandowski was the third name on my list, he is a good talent and can bring a more direct game to my attack.

I had planed to target Clemens Fritz to provide cover for Bakary Sagna but he decided to stay with Weder Bremen, so I looked to a loan deal and asked Pat to put together a list for me.

I had an e-mail from Gilles Grimandi, who I sent to look at young talent in the French league. The message read:

"Hey boss I have finished the assignment, please find attached my reports and some video of my recommended players. Unless you have another job for me I shall be returning to the club. Yours Gilles."

I e-mailed him back thanking him for "his quick work" and asking him to "please move on to Portugal with the same guidelines." Then I took a look at his report.

He had seven high recommendations in his report, Caen pair Lenny Nangis (AMRL) and Mbaye Niang (AMC/ST), PSG pair Hervin Ongenda (ST) and Abdallah Yaisien (AMRC), Wesley Said (ST) of Rennais, Yassine Banzia (ST) of Lyon and Kurt Zouma (DC) of Saint-Ettiene.

I decided to look at the latter three a bit closer and asked Jurgen Kost if he would do a follow up report for me.

I also had an e-mail from Stewart Houston who had finished his report on young talent in England. I thanked him and asked him to move on to Holland form me before looking through his notes over a glass of red.

Of the 31 players on his report I was only interested in two, Adam Campbell (ST) of Newcastle and Luke Shaw (DL) of Southampton. I asked Steve Rowley to look at these youngsters and contacted Athletic Bilbao and Dortmund with regard to my transfer targets.

Bilbao wanted £5 million for Amorebieta and £7 million for de Marcos while Dortmund quoted me £14'5 million for Lewandoski. It is in my budget but I would prefer to spend a bit less on each player if I am honest.

 

[AmunRa]

Players in, players out and Pre-season!

It has been a month since I was appointed as manager of Arsenal following the shock resignation of Arsene Wenger and it has been quite a busy month. I have reorganized my coaching staff, released some dead weight from the youth system, convinced the chairmen and owner to invest in said youth system and ****** off one of the clubs players. Not bad really when you think of it.

I got a call from Pat about a "friendly" between the main squad and the reserve/youth team to kick off pre-season. "What the ****, lets do it." I told him and it allowed me to have a close look at the level my entire roster of players was at. The verdict, not good.

I had also sat down with the coaching staff and arranged the games for our pre-season, it was a long process with a lot of time spent arguing over who we should play first and where. In the end we opted for German champions Dortmund. This fixture gave me an excuse to hold talks with Robert Lewendowski about a transfer, big smiles there.

Pat and Alex then suggested some opponents who I could play my younger players against, lower league guys who would give them a work out and "boost confidence throughout the club" (their words). It was sound advice and we set about shortlisting some clubs in England and Scotland, in the end we agreed on Blackpool, MK Dons and Torquay.

I made the decision to end with two away games against decent opponents. I wanted the squad to get a feel for travelling long distances so a trip to Spain to take on Sporting Gijon and then to Argentina to play Estudientes. With that all sorted I went home to think about players.

Another call to Stan regarding a local feeder club and he presented me with some options, Crystal Palace, Charlton, Rotherham, Watford and Middlesbrough. I opted for my old mate Chris Powell at Charlton and left the rest with the board. I was on my way to lunch when Pam buzzed saying I had Josu Urritia on the line, lunch canceled.

"Hello Mr Urritia, I was hoping we could do a deal over two of you players?" Off to Spain I went with the chairman to meet with Marcelo Bielsa and Mr Urritia they were interested in selling de Marcos and Amorebieta.

We landed at 5pm and went to a hotel to talk, well Mr Hill-Wood spoke I stayed silent mostly, but when Bielsa asked "Why should I do business with you?" I answered,
"Because I want to build a side to play football, not win trophies. Even though winning is important I would not think to compromise this game. I believe that Oscar and Fernando can help my club and I will pay what needs to for them."

When we boarded the plane 6 hours later we had agreed deals for the both of them. Fernando Amorebieta would cost us £3.5 million pound up front with 10% of the profit from any future transfer going back to Bilbao.
De Marcos would only cost us £2.2 million up front but we had add-ons of £6 million depending on appearances for both us and Spain. Good business I think.

I was contacted by three clubs regarding Johan Djourou, Newcastle, Porto and Malaga, I said I would let him go for between £8 and £12 million pounds. Only Malaga and Porto were interested the latter offering £500k for a year long loan with £7.5 million buy clause, Malaga offered £11 million up front so I accepted their bid and informed Johan.

I spoke to the Dortmund manager about Lewandowski when we set up the friendly and offered him £11.5 million pound for the player. The board accepted the offer and in three days I had engineered 3 transfers in, 1 transfer out and 7 friendly matches, with the help of my board and coaches.

Go us.

 

[AmunRa]

Signed, sealed and unbeaten. But curse you injuries!!

So by the start of our first official pre-season game against Dortmund I had signed two players for my first team and 4 youth prospects.

So on the morning of the game I arranged a press conference to introduce my new players.

"Well first off I would like to welcome all of you here today, hello. Now to business, I am pleased to introduce my first signings as Arsenal manager from left to right. Wesley Said, Oscar de Marcos, Fernando Amorebieta, Kurt Zouma, Luke Shaw and Adam Campbell. Together they cost the club £17.9 million and I believe they will all do well for the club."

"Do you think the fans have any reason to worry about your transfers, they all seem very young?"
"I think fans will understand that I am not going to destroy the clubs finances trying to sign a Ganso or Neymar. The players sitting here today were all bought in after extensive scouting and negotiating with their former clubs. I don't want fans to think we are just focusing on the youth team though as I hope to unveil more signings soon."

"How much did they cost each?"
"Wesley cost us £1.4m in compensation, Luke £2.3m, Adam £1.5m, Kurt £7m, Oscar £2.2 and Fernando £3.5m."
"Isn't £7m a lot to pay for a 16 year old?"
"No. I payed what I had to to get a player who can become the future of this club. Anyway Alex Chamberlain cost £12m."

​

Pre season friendlies.
​

Arsenal 5 vs 0 Arsenal Reserves (H)

Robin van Persie, Marouane Chamakh, Theo Walcott, Kieran Gibbs, Park Chu-Young.

​

Arsenal 1 vs 0 Dortmund (H)
​

Oscar De Marcos

Arsenal 3 vs 2 Blackpool (A)
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Alex Song, Robin van Persie

Arsenal 2 vs 0 Torquay (A)
Oscar De Marcos, Marouane Chamakh

Arsenal 3 vs 0 Colorado (A)
Mikel Arteta, Theo Walcott, Hector Bellerin

Arsenal 3 vs 0 MK Dons
Robin van Persie, Gervinho, Theo Walcott

Arsenal 4 vs 2 Sporting Gijon
Gervinho, Theo Walcott (2), Mikel Arteta

Arsenal 4 vs 1 Estudientes (A)
Francis Coquelin, Mikel Arteta (3)

​

As you can see a strong pre-season for us results wise and the performances were good too. The coaching staff couldn't congratulate themselves as we were deep in a injury crisis already.

Having sold Djourou to Malaga for £11m I finalized deals to bring in the following players,
Robert Lewendoski (ST) £11.5m, Lorenzo De Silvestri (WBR) £1.2m loan, Yassine Benzia (ST) £2.7m, Guiseppi Prestia (DC) £2.5m and Tiago Machowski (GK) £2.7M.

That took my summer spending to £27.5m and I could relax on that front for a while. However I had to figure out what to do about my injury hit squad. So I called Pat and Colin Lewin in for a chat.

"Guys we need to do something about the injury problems here quick. We have nearly as many out injured a we do fit for first team duty, any suggestions?"

"Well a few of them are only short term so we can survive for a while. Robin(van Persie), Francis (Coquelin), Andre (Santos), Mikel (Arteta) and Gavin (Hoyte) should be back in a couple of weeks, 3 at the most."

"That's good Colin but we are without 11 first team players and six of them are long term. Pat do you think we need cover?"

"Well I wouldn't go crazy boss, Francis and Gavin are on the fringes and we made plans for the long term absentees a while back, maybe loan in an anchor man to cover Alex."

We stayed late making a shortlist I just hope we can perform against Swansea without my captains.

​

 

[AmunRa]

So we are now underdogs?

Wednesday

“I guess we can play without any pressure now boss.” Pat said to me this morning after he handed me the morning’s paper. The column had been written by a former player who somewhat disagreed with my style of management.

“Why Swansea Will Win”

​

In the column he states that my “decision to abolish the reserve team” as it had previously been known was “not only short sighted but also a rookie error of judgement” and, along with my transfers which were “uninspiring to say the least” meant that he thought we would “struggle to get a result again newly promoted Swansea” and we could hope for a mid table finish at best.
“Well I always thought he was a nice guy.” Was all I could say after I had put the paper down, as I got up to leave I picked up my mobile phone and called Pam. “Hey, I need you to arrange a meeting tomorrow morning between myself, Pat Rice, Martin Keown, Steve Bould, Tony Colbert and Colin Lewin.” I asked her. “Yes Mr Thomas. Is there a specific time?” I told her to make it as early as she could before I went to see my youth squad train.
Thursday
The next morning I arrived at 6am, checked my inbox and went into my office to outline the agenda for today’s meeting. When Pam arrived I asked her if she could call a press conference for 3pm tomorrow afternoon. “Yes sir, um should I call all the major reporters?” she asked me timidly. “Yes please my dear. Oh and could you please call me as soon as Pat and the others arrive.” “Of course sir.” Next up for me breakfast.
Pat Rice and the other senior coaching staff arrived at the stadium at 7:30 and came straight into the canteen. “Hello guys.” (Always a good way to start a conversation.) “ I asked you all here today so we could discuss a few things before I select the team for Saturdays game.” I looked around the room at the men I had chosen to be my lieutenants and continued. “We have a lot of injuries in this squad and it is not the largest as it is. We need to all work together to pull through this tough time. Colin, Tony, how are our injured players progressing?”
“Well as I said last week, we should have a few players back from injury within the next 2 weeks. Robin, Andre and Gavin will be available by the first week of September but, other than them we are still no closer to having a fully fit squad.” I looked at Colin Lewin and remembered why I trusted him so much, he always tells the truth. No matter what he is always honest. “Tony are there any players in the youth team I can rely on fitness wise to fill in for now?” Tony Colbert thought for a minute or two before replying. “Not really, Benik and Alban maybe Kyle but none of them are ready for a full game in the first team just yet.” He knew that was not what I wanted to hear but he told me anyway, I looked at Pat Rice and the other coaches before continuing. “This team can not afford any more injuries to key players, but more importantly we need to beat Swansea on Saturday. I have a team in mind, I would like your honest opinions please.” And I handed them all a piece of paper with 11 names on it.
2 hours later we left the canteen and I was feeling confident that my team would be able to get a result against Swansea, so I went upstairs to my office to print out a final copy of the team.

Friday
I met with the players in the morning and told them who would and would not be in the starting 11 for tomorrow’s game with Swansea.
Wojciech, Bakary, Laurent, Fernando, Kieran, Alex, Oscar, Aaron, Gervinho, Theo and Robert were all scheduled to start with Manuel, Ignasi, Lorenzo, Yossi, Tomas, Park and Marouane on the bench. I think they took it well. After that I sent them off for some training with the fitness team while the rest of the squad continued to train as normal.
View attachment 246658

After training I had a press conference and had to answer some inevitable questions about Wednesday’s column, basically I said that “this team had enough quality in it to mount a serious challenge on the top four” and that we would be “able to cope with our current injury problems.” I stopped short of calling it a “crisis”. That evening, I received a phone call from an agent who was looking for a new club for his client, Shaktar Donetsk’s Brazilian midfielder Willian. He was after a move to a “top European club” so I called Steve Rowley and asked him to send me any information he had on him A.S.A.P.

Tomorrow I would make my debut as a Barclays Premier League manager. Nervous didn’t begin to cover how I was feeling right now.