Back in March, Ronald Koeman was apparently ‘perfect’ to replace Arsène Wenger at Arsenal, and now he’s on the verge of being sacked by Everton, but it’s not the first time this has happened.
Ian Wright wants Sean Dyche to manage Arsenal
Linking Arsenal with each and every manager in the league is a favourite pastime of the English media, since Arsenal are the only Premier League club who have held onto their current manager for more than a decade, and that’s clearly unacceptable.
So, as often as possible they do their best to rectify the situation and provide the Gunners with the ideal candidate to take over. Back in March, that candidate was Ronald Koeman, as we reported that the Mirror were calling him the “perfect Arsène Wenger successor”.
Now the Toffees are 16th in the league and have lost five of their last eight matches. According to The S*n, Ronald Koeman is on the brink of being sacked.
Maybe not so perfect for the Gunners after all…
Here are some other examples of the media being a bit to quick to jump on a manager being Wenger’s ideal replacement:
1. Owen Coyle
Back in 2011 Coyle was having a fantastic managerial spell, overachieving with Burnley and then Bolton Wanderers, whilst Arsenal’s trophy drought continued to extend.
Bleacher Report wrote that Coyle should take over from Wenger at Arsenal “before Ferguson retires or Ancelotti is fired and he moves to one of our rivals instead”.
Coyle ended up getting Bolton relegated, being sacked, moving to Wigan Athletic, and leaving them 14th in the table a few months later.
2. Michael Laudrup
A couple of years after Owen Coyle, Michael Laudrup was listed as a possible Wenger replacement by talkSPORT in 2013.
He was on a good run with Swansea, and talkSPORT thought he “could be the kind of young, attack-minded coach Arsenal are crying out for”.
Laudrup was sacked the following February, leaving Swansea just two points clear of relegation, and went on to manage Al-Duhail SC in Qatar.
3. David Moyes
Another rumour from 2013, Metro wrote that Moyes “has long been lauded as one [of] the Premier League’s hottest managerial talents” and Arsenal’s board had reportedly “set their sights” on the Everton manager.
Moyes moved to United instead, and lasted 10 months, finishing seventh in the league. He then had two more managerial spells with Real Sociedad and Sunderland, neither of which lasted a year.
4. Remi Garde
Another who made plenty of top 10 lists to replace Arsène Wenger, for example this one in the Metro a few years ago, was Remi Garde.
Remi was one of Wenger’s former players, and seemed to be doing well with Lyon.
Garde did end up coming to the Premier League, managing Aston Villa for 147 days.
He had the lowest win percentage of any permanent Aston Villa manager in Premier League history, and has since taken a break from management.