mdgoonah41 wrote:
the odds of arteta staying here for 15 years seems incredibly unlikely, even had things gone well. it just doesnt really happen anymore, and i think there is an argument that its probably a good thing. voices get tuned out, tactics get stale, and there is a normal lifecycle of like 5-7 years for a manager, assuming things are going really great. in our case, things havent been great.
Some sound points here (including the bits of your post that I cut).
Fully agree the "restorationist" fantasy of finding another Wenger should be binned—from another point of view, even Wenger wasn't another Wenger for almost a decade.
Way I see it all else being equal, there are many metastable zones in the Premier and lower leagues. We're in the Europa League zone, we want to be in the Champions League zone. To get there and stay there for a while or until the next cycle of rebuilding begins, we need an Arsenal that's more than the sum of its parts for a while. I think this is a justification for the emphasis on "intangibles" in the current KSE led project: more Arsenalisation, former captain as manager, cultural change etc.
The way I see it, except under unlikely circumstances, practical changes like Edu's role and the emphasis on youth already acknowledge the likelihood Arteta won't be around for the next project.
If rumours about what we're willing to spend on Vlahovic and others are genuine, we're much better placed overall to get back to Europe than I thought, with or without Arteta.
Currently I want to see Arteta lead us either to the end of this season—which might come early if there were some untenable decline in form.
If he finishes in fourth let him continue. If he finishes just outside but with compelling justifications, let him continue. Otherwise, get someone else to take these players forward.
On Flobaba's future at OMITT I say we keep him and give him a raise.
