A very subjective look into AWFC

Pardon the rather hostile and click bait style title to this post, but my question is a genuine one. Jonas Eidevall has signed a new contract at our club and by the comments on the tweet announcing it, I’d say people have very strong feelings about it. People have very strong opinions as to why he shouldn’t have signed and others have equally as strong ones as to why he deserves a new contract.

Before I give my opinion, here’s basically where others seem to stand:

YES, he deserves a contract because of almost winning the WSL, because of getting to the UCL Semis and most of all, by doing all of this without a full squad. People on this side of the fence think he has created a great system with amazing team spirit which as been appealing to some world class players to join, etc etc etc

NO, he doesn’t deserve a contract because he hasn’t won trophies aside from the Conti cup. He hasn’t delivered. He hasn’t used subs efficiently and even with injuries he has played players. albeit out of necessity, at wrong positions. He hasn’t bought a world class keeper, and many others.

To be fair and as middle of the road as possible I have to say that both sides have very interesting points. But I’m not down the middle, am I? I usually feel like there has to be actual results to that merit an extension and in Jonas’s case, I don’t think he has achieved enough to warrant an extension, which is not the same as believing he is underserving of one. These are separate things and I totally understand if this is confusing or contradicting.

I wrote a few days ago that I don’t just support the manager of my club blindly, hell no. The opposite… I love my club so much that I want the absolute best of the best at everything, all the time. The thing is that with players, sometimes they can’t win or justify an extension via trophies whereas the managers are usually measured by the silverware they win, and in Eidvall’s case is just one trophy, that to borrow and paraphrase what Ruesha said once, it was just 4 matches that he had to win, maybe even just 3. Whatever, the point is that he hasn’t won the WSL in many tries, he hasn’t won the CL, and I personally do not see him as the manager to bring us to glory. I repeat: I do not see him as THE guy.

Mostly because I don’t agree with a lot of his choices and don’t agree with a lot of what he does. And that is the nature of my ego and the prism through which I watch football. There are times when I see things and say: “I don’t know what’s happening but I trust the manager” and there are other times when I say: “well that’s insane, he clearly has no idea what he’s doing” and the latter has happened a lot in recent times.

Katie randomly on the bench, LWM + Jen starting the season, failing to qualify for the CL group stages and more. If it were up to me many things would be different but thankfully it’s not up to me and he actually knows what he’s doing, or so you’d think.

But beyond what he has or hasn’t done, I want to see what the near future looks like before I would truly agree with the decision of giving him an extension. Like, I love the guy, I like what he says and how, I love how he treats the girls but I personally want to see some players moved on, I want to see what life post Kim Little will be like, I want to know how he utilizes the players when everyone is fit, because if he isn’t getting results then that’s a problem but if he already has a new contract things are different. What I mean by that is that there might be less of a sense of urgency since he already has the contract and doesn’t have to deliver per se.

However, this last assumption is pretty insulting on my part to be honest. That’s not my goal at all. I would never imply that he is unprofessional or wouldn’t give his best just because he has a contract in the bag. What I am saying though, is that there’s no way a new contract doesn’t play into the future because the contract is there and you can’t change the facts.

I’ll be team #JonasOut in minutes if certain things remain as they are, make no mistake.

d ❤

THAT ARSENAL WOMEN PODCAST on:
YOUTUBE
APPLE PODCASTS
SPOTIFY