If we have learnt anything after the recent interviews with the new owners of Liverpool FC there is one name that keeps popping up as to where the new owners want to go and how they plan on getting there.
That name ? Arsenal FC.
No surprise there since they are the third most valuable club in world football* and are an ideal model of how to get results on the pitch without spending too much money off it. Not only that but as the team has the youngest average age in the Premiership, Arsenal won't be experiencing any of the problems that have been experienced by Liverpool and are not too far away on the horizon for Manchester United, but more on that another time.
Management is no doubt a major issue for the new owners. Their "building a team" off the pitch and already begun the changes with the appointment of Damien Comolli. If they're looking at Arsenal for inspiration then why not look towards their management success also.
Economics Masters recipient Arsene Wenger has been very successful, leading a top 4 team every year since the 96/97 season, winning 3 times but at 61 years old and already a living legend at Arsenal he wont be going anywhere else before he starts collecting his pension.
So where might NESV find the man that could replicate the success at Arsenal ? Well the the search may not have to be as large as once thought. There has been much discussion about sabermetrics, and its ability to be utilised in the world of soccer since NESV's successful use of Billy Beans ideologies at the Red Sox. They need a man who believes in long term goals and the ability of youth. Looking at managers that have been succesfull in the last 10 years they have all had a similar trait, one that can be judged fairly easily looking a managers ability to change the course of a game. A master tactician is whats required.
Two players who would probably agree is Torres and Reina, their glowing reports on the notes Rafa Benitez would give them detailing their opponents tendencies and weaknesses and how they could be exploited were so detailed that they helped Spain on their course for World Cup glory, Reina telling Casillas exactly where Cardozo's penalty was going to be directed. So the recent whisperings of disenchantment from the same two about the techniques currently being employed do not come as much of a surprise. Two players hitting there prime also World and European Cup winners are not the quality of player you want to be leaving any squad, especially two of arguably the best in their respective positions.
Liverpool need a man who not only can command respect from players, communicate with each of them, bring through youth and actuate a style of play that the fans can be proud of again.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Boro Primorac.
Below is taken from a magazine article :
Boro Primorac has been one of the keys to the Arsenal manager's success wherever he has gone, says Wayne Veysey AFTER shaking hands with opposite number Ronald Koeman and a quick exchange with one or two players, Arsène Wenger's first port of call in the wake of tonight's Champions League clash in Eindhoven will be a post-match debrief with Boro Primorac.
The big, bald Bosnian's routine — both at half-time and when the final whistle blows — is to scurry down from his seat in the stands to offer any tactical or technical observations to his boss and long-term friend.
Pat Rice may sit alongside Wenger on match days and assume the public role as No2, but there is little doubt that the mysterious Primorac — who many diehard Gunners fans would struggle to recognise — is the French general's most trusted lieutenant.
A rugged central defender who captained the former Yugoslavia during his playing days, Primorac possesses the sort of physique that could earn him extra-curricular work as a nightclub doorman — and a vigorous handshake to match — but in English football his profile is minute.
He shuns interview requests with a self-deprecating shrug: "Why would you want to speak to me? I'm not important." The evidence, however, is to the contrary.
The 52-year-old is a highly-valued tactician and Wenger's chief sounding board on players, tactics and team selection.
"Boro is an encyclopedia of world football," said Arsenal great and former goalkeeping coach Bob Wilson. "Name a player and he'll know his height, weight and which foot he favours. He watches tape after tape on football, channel after channel.
"He's Arsène's ally and they share the belief that the three most important things in the game are technique, technique and technique."
Armed with stopwatch and whistle, Wenger personally runs all Arsenal's training sessions himself with the precision of a Swiss clock.
However, according to one Ashburton source: "If Arsène delegates anything, he delegates to Boro. He is the man he trusts most."
Wenger and Primorac's friendship was borne out of adversity.
They first became acquainted at Cannes in the early 1980s, where the Frenchman was an assistant coach and the Yugoslav a player, and then became rival managers in the France Championnat in 1993 — Wenger at Monaco and Primorac at Valenciennes.
But it was Primorac's role in the 1993 French football scandal that resulted in the jailing of Bernard Tapie, the Marseilles president, which was to secure their bond. The fallout from the crisis also resulted in Marseilles being stripped of the Champions League title.
After being told by one of his players, Jacques Glassman, that he and two team-mates, Jorge Burruchaga and Christophe Robert, had deliberately thrown an end-of-season game against Marseilles, Primorac bravely ignored Tapie's attempts to buy his silence and his evidence in court was crucial to the club president's conviction.
After bringing down Tapie, Primorac became something of a scapegoat in French football. At 39, his top-flight managerial career was effectively finished.
"Many people felt Boro broke the code of silence in football," remembers a Valenciennes source. "He suffered a traumatic time giving evidence against Tapie. He was personally threatened and Valenciennes got rid of him.
"The results weren't brilliant at the time and he never had great success as a manager, but Boro was robbed of his career by the scandal. He had taken great personal risk in giving evidence against Tapie and was to pay a huge price."
Wenger's Monaco suffered the most because of Tapie's corruption and the Arsenal boss had been impressed by Primorac's courage and integrity.
The Frenchman had publicly supported the man who was to become his long-serving accomplice and eventually offered him a coaching job after moving to Grampus Eight in Japan in 1994.
They have been comrades ever since and when Wenger moved to Highbury two years later, Primorac naturally went with him.
"If Arsène Wenger was to leave Arsenal tomorrow, Boro Primorac would go with him. Pat Rice wouldn't," observed former Arsenal midfielder Ray Parlour.
"Boro is clearly Arsène's right-hand man but it is hard to say how important he is to Arsenal's success.
"They are all important — Pat Rice, [physio] Gary Lewin. But at the end of the day, Arsène picks the team and his neck is on the block."
Those who have worked with Primorac at Arsenal talk of a charming, highly-intelligent individual whose language skills — he is said to be fluent in eight languages (Serb-Croat, French, English, Japanese, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian) — puts even Wenger and the multi-lingual Philippe Senderos in the shade.
"He is a lovely bloke," adds Parlour. "He is a big practical joker and very popular. He is probably closer to the players than Arsène Wenger because he has been there and done it as a player."
The man without portfolio has a wide brief at Arsenal, from assessing players to everyday tasks such as conducting the pre-training warm-ups, stretching, sprint sessions and shortsided games. Former Arsenal goalkeeper John Lukic refers to him as the BBC man, revealing: "He was only in charge of balls, bibs and cones, because Arsène does everything.
"But he has a far more important role as Arsène's eyes, ears and sounding board. And he is a fully qualified coach who did put on sessions when the boss was away."
Another ex-Gunner Paul Merson also sings his praises.
He said: "Boro was a football nut who was a great help to me when I was coming back from injury. I remember thinking, 'this bloke knows his stuff '. He was also very easy to speak to and more accessible than Wenger."
The Arsenal boss has admitted to sometimes signing players — such as Portuguese winger Luis Boa Morte, now at West Ham — purely on Primorac's recommendation, evidence enough of Wenger's faith in his most trusted adviser.
* (In April 2010, business magazine Forbes ranked Arsenal as the third most valuable football team in the world, after Manchester United and Real Madrid, valuing the club at $1.181bn (£768m), excluding debt.)
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