MANAGERIAL MERRY-GO-ROUND BEGINS!
Well hello my dears. It took 28 hours to return home yesterday and the air travel gods capped the slog with a lost bag. Not the best. But worth it. Not many get to experience a game like that, so big thanks to the lovely Patreon listener who helped me bag a ticket.
The world of football does not sleep for a second. We’ve barely got over our hangovers from the end-of-season parties… and teams are moving on managers.
Roberto De Zerbi has exited Brighton. There are rumors United might have triggered his release clause. This makes sense with Dan Ashworth moving there and the Brighton connection. It also makes sense because United can give him the 27-31-year-old players he was looking for at Brighton (The Athletic reporting his taste in players led to the demise of relations). Good manager, no doubt. Is he the next level? Not sure. Some of that carry-on at Brighton was a bit unprofesh if you ask me.
Chelsea binned Poch despite a very good end to the season. They didn’t get top 4. That was the brief. Clearlake want to try someone new. The name on the street is McKenna, who did a magnificent job bringing Ipswich to the Premier League on a tiny budget, playing maximum total football. The 38-year-old had been a coach at United, and he was the hottest manager in the league. I’ll be very interested to see how this one pans out - it looks like they are trying to replicate the magic we’ve found with Arteta. It also feels very ‘hot new thang’ which is part of the new Chelsea DNA. This guy has never worked with major players, he didn’t have a glittering playing career, and he’s heading into a very rich dressing room. Could be Mourinho genius - could be AVB sad. Will also be interesting to see if the Ipswich manager wants to move there. Walking over the body bags of Potter and Poch when you’re heading into an interview should be a warning.
Liverpool moved in on Arne Slot of Feyenoord. He’s bald, he’s Dutch, he comes with a big reputation. Sound familiar? The big difference here for me is that this is Michael Edwards in reboot mode. One of the best football minds in the world has returned to Liverpool after leaving two years ago to have another go in a bigger position. Slot is a relationships man; he gets the max out of his players, and he plays a version of high-pressure heavy metal football. What he doesn’t have is X factor - something Klopp had in bundles. Slot is apparently top of all the data charts the scouts looking at coaches monitor. Going in after a legend, to coach legendary players, rarely works well, so we’ll see.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta only has a year left to go on his deal. Arsenal need to move heaven and earth to get him to commit to at least 4 more years. I don’t think there’s any danger of that not happening. He ends this season in a much better place than last when he was approached by PSG. His new deal will most certainly be about the pay bump - but more important than that - it’ll be about the club backing him to move Arsenal forward again. All he cares about is having the best group of players at his disposal. So if Arsenal give him that, he’s going to sign a new deal. There’s no better club in the world for him right now - and it’s hard to think of a better squad he could be building upon.
With Josh at training all last week, I don’t think we really have to worry about this deal. Though I will say, the impending pain City is about to go through has probably made it more likely he’s with us for a few more years than he would have been if Pep had gone without the impending issues.
Ok, short post from me today - we’ll talk transfers tomorrow.
P.S. Sorry for the delay on the podcast. I can’t give a good audio performance without my equipment and more than 3 hours sleep.