26 Apr 2012

Lawro claims: Top Premier League boss would fail at Real Madrid. Agree...?

Mark Lawrenson is never shy to dish out his views on rival managers, and in recent months, he's had plenty to say about Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger. Lawro recently accused the Frenchman of 'negligence' in the transfer market, and now, he's claimed that Wenger would be an unsuitable choice for the Real Madrid job.

Unfortunately for Wenger, it seems like Arsenal are set to go yet another year without a trophy, and rumours persist that he could leave at the end of the season, with Real Madrid a potential destination.

How would Wenger get on at Madrid? Speaking to Today FM recently, Lawro argued that the chances of Wenger being a success at the Bernebeau were slim. He said:

"Wenger’s contract expires in 2014 and it’s now hard to see him seeing it out. He has flirted with clubs in the past. It was Paris Saint Germain last summer. We’re told that Real Madrid are interested now.

"Can you imagine a more unlikely fit for Real Madrid? Spendthrift manager who likes to put his faith in young players and always demands to be in total control. I’ll believe that one when I see it".


Wenger is always accused of refusing to spend money that is allegedly available to him, but as he revealed in a Press Conference recently, he has to make the club money every season to subsidise the Emirates stadium:

"You should know that each season, it is imperative to show a profit of between fifteen and twenty million pounds. I mean by that we want to pay the debt back from building the stadium and that’s around £15m, so it’s normal that at the start we have to make £15m or we lose money"

At Madrid, Wenger would not be hamstrung by such financial issues, so it follows that if he had money to spend there, he would probably spend it.

I personally think that Wenger would be superb at Madrid, or indeed any club, including Liverpool. Just imagine if Wenger had come to Anfield instead of Arsenal...

I've always had massive respect for Wenger; he's a genius of a manager, and it will be a sad day for English football when his time in the Premier League comes to an end.

Legendary display of defiance by Wenger after being sent off against Man United:


Jaimie Kanwar


21 comments:

  1. And Kenny Dalglish Will Prevail
    He Will Bring Stewart Downing To Replace C.Ronaldo
    Charlie "Tooth" Adams For Xabi Alonso And Kedhira

    35 Million For Andy Caroll LOLLLLL!!!!
    Long Live Uncle Woy

    P R O G R E S S

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  2. Sure you do not imply ML is a rival manager to AW? mark's flirtation with football management lasted only two unsuccessful years. he is obviously opinionated about football but often lost. even the closest of arsenal fans arent privy to exactly what goes on at afc, so i would rather go with what AW says than the possibly jealous voyeurings of a failed management pretender. after all wenger has had great success at afc and in france b4 the emirates stadium project. anyway, where was ML when liverpool sleep walked into the king kenny disaster? him and stan collymore seem so keen on giving the elbow to wenger yet remain blind to the unfolding catastrophe at their former club, why? back to wenger, the man has always said he respects and honours his contracts. after sixteen years at the club, it is not up to Mark Lawrenson to tell us when arsene is leaving. 

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  3. What are you shiting about. Go follow your own club and let us worry about Kenny.

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  4. I think Wenger with better players (like the old Arsenal team) would do great things for Madrid and match Barcelona's style of play, but a little more direct counter attack.

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  5. Mark Lawro doesn't know what he's talking about and is highly disrespectful to Arsene Wenger.

    Fuck off Lawro, let the experts do the managing. 

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  6. I think Wenger would suit Real well. He is an excellent manager. Look at how they recovered from the early season's problems and now right in the mix for Champ League. 

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  7. I think Wenger, brilliant as he is, wouldn't be a good fit with Real. I think Real is one of those clubs where good players and managers can fail through no fault of their own. Look at some of their managers from the last decade:

    Pellegrini sacked with 96 points, a club record, in first season.

    Capello sacked after winning the title for the first time in 4 years.

    Del Bosque (a club legend as a player) sacked after winning 2 European Cups and 2 La Ligas in 4 years.

    Schuster (not quite a legend, but a revered ex-player) sacked after back-to-back titles, including setting a new record for season points total and making the football more 'sexy'.

    There were rumours of Mourinho being sacked last season too, when him and Mijatovic were having a bit of stand-off and Barca were clearly better.

    It is tough and you need a lot of luck, as well as talent etc., to succeed there. I'm not sure Wenger would get the time he needs to implement his methods. He has been at Arsenal so long, a club like Real would probably be a culture shock for him.

    He probably hasn't the charisma and force of personality, that Mourinho has and Del Bosque and Schuster lacked, to keep the fans and ownership (particularly Perez) on side.

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  8. Septimus_severus7:43 am, April 27, 2012

    I'm SICK and TIRED of Former Players like HASEN and LAWERNSON attacking other Managers and players but giving KENNY DALGLISH and his poor Purchases a easy ride.

    It's disgusting, if they applied there own criticism to Liverpool FC which they do to others DALGLISH would be out.

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  9. When does Lawro think these things up , between holes at birkdale why doesn't he give Kenny and Steve Clarke some advice , cos he knows everything or is he just a Gobshite ?

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  10. Take no notice mate he's a gobshite

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  11. wenger inherited many players that carried on the success arsenal had, with a couple of added players. when it came to dismantling the old guard, it hasn't been so easy. his 'eternally' young players will come through and see the club right. yep, still waiting,so while they wait and wait and wait and wait some more(nearly 7 seasons without a cup now), he signed some utter dross.,that had their supporters booing his choice of subs,and starting selections. rvp has saved them this season,make no mistake. i don't personally think wenger is as good as people make out. yes, nice passing footbal...sometimes,very nice indeed. just like barca,winning all before them,not. he has a conflict of interest,with being manager and having a seat on the board. madrid wouldn't put up with failure from him. arsenal have plenty of money,a well run club. wenger just doesn't know how to spend it correctly. a bit like us i suppose (as in we don't always spend on decent players) . 

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  12. He hasn't had this 'first team youth' philosophy all the time at Arsenal. That English back five were hardly young, the same with Bergkamp. Yes, he didn't buy them but he made it work with them to a fantastic level. 

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  13. 'arsenal have plenty of money' - any reliable source for this please?

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  14. The likes of KK cheerleaders Houghton, Lawro, Spackman, etc, are in charge of the 'Kenn-i-fication'

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  15. yearly published accounts, which points to the FACTS that many cubs are now wishing to emulate the way their clubs are run. including FSG. if legal documents are not a 'reliable source' then i can't help you any further.

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  16. so what has happened in the last 6/7 years?

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  17. How can Lawro criticise Wenger but not say a bad word about Dalglish?

    Liverpool lurch from bad to worse every week, with expensive flops proving week in, week out that they're not up to standard but this idiot says nothing.

    Wenger's record in the transfer market isn't great but he knew enough not to spend £16 million on Henderson, £35 million on Carroll and £20 million on Downing. I'd much rather Liverpool had Oxlade Chamberlain than bloody Henderson, who has no influence on the game whatsoever.

    In short, I'd have Wenger over Dalglish any day of the week

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  18. Yes, its well known that they have a lot of money generally but what about in relation to transfer budget.

    One thing the club GENERALLY having a lot of money and another thing the club having a lot of money set aside SPECIFICALLY for transfers. Two distinctly different things.

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  19. Whats your point? I said/implied he DIDN'T HAVE this 'first team youth' philosophy ALL THE TIME at Arsenal. Ergo, I never said/implied that that he hasn't had a 'first team youth' philosophy in the last 6/7 years, but merely that for some period of time that he didn't have such a philosophy. 

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  20. Nope, he wouldn't because they don't wield much influence. Hansen was heavily criticising AVB about 4 months before he was sacked, so you can't say his criticism ousted him. If he couldn't get the league's most trigger happy owner to write up a p45, then he is hardly a deal breaker. Lawrenson has even less authority.

    I think it is more 'disgusting' that it seems to upset you that they wont openly disrespect a club legend and friend. If Kenny has to go, he deserves to go with dignity and not be hounded out as people want. Kenny only took this job in the first place due to a lack of quality options and this is the thanks he gets.

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  21. It is simply ridiculous that someone in the football world will discredit Arsene Wenger for his ability in football club management. IMO, he's the best manager in the whole business, present and future. His ability to run Arsenal well on shoe-string budget every season and regularly position Arsenal with reasonable success in the EPL. There are simply too many successful transfer stories of Arsene Wenger, Anelka-Henry-Adebayor-RVP is just one of the many of them. Where was Arsenal when he took over as the manager and right now, Arsenal is definitely the most successful club financially in the EPL, possibly the whole of Europe. He style of managing football club should be modeled after if football clubs are to run on a self-sustaining model. Just look at the football club rich list in wikipedia and we will know the answer. The only unknown factor is whether he knows how to spend money when it is available.

    For comparison, the last 4 managers of LFC spent tons of money over players during their reign and till date, with no new stadium, no league champion, no net profit in player sales and coming into the 3rd season without Champions League football to speak of. Mark Lawrenson may still be living in the good old glory days of LFC so he maybe unaware that Arsenal is already worlds ahead of Liverpool in terms of finance and results. He should recommend KD to Real Madrid, Guardiola to Arsenal and Wenger to LFC. I will definitely welcome this change with really open arms.

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