It’s a dark evening in December and I’m running under a light rain listening to a Tim Ferris podcast episode about high-performance psychology in sports teams. This guy Michael Gervais talks about his experience as a psychologist with an NFL team – Seattle Seahawks – and the process they went through to transform this team’s failures into success. If he is talking NFL, why am I thinking of Arsenal? am I mad? these are not even the same “football”!
Disclaimer: This article is mostly trying to draw a timeline of possible events rather than make conclusions and anlyze the team.
My memories clicked when Michael Gervais – the Performance Psychologist from the mentioned podcast – said the following:
There are three rules in the organization. Always protect your team. Rule number one. Rule number two, no whining, no complaining, no excuses. Rule number three, be early.
Now if you are an Arsenal fan like me and followed the team closely in the past 3 years of Mikel Arteta’s reign you know where I am going. Gervais answers another question about the process of dealing with a loss:
The value of front-loading a philosophy, I can’t say enough about it because it becomes a compass. And so this pain that one is feeling is measured against the compass. It’s measured against the tent pole. So front loading is a really important process. If you don’t have that in place, it’s really hard.
No, don’t try to push it away[The pain]. Feel it. I don’t have any science around this, other than my experiences, the only reason people change is because of pain. So the worst thing a friend could do, or a psychologist could do, or a coach could do is take away pain. Because pain is the impetus to be able to say, “I’m done. I’m not doing this anymore.
All of this immediately clicks again and I swirl into a deep dive into memory lane. I end up searching Arsenal’s website for Mikel Arteta’s first interview and here what he had to say:
There are some things that have to have a blueprint. We have to have passion, we have to be dominant, we have to be aggressive. We have to play in the opponent’s territory as much as we want. I want the ball, I want to attack them as much as possible, I want to prevent them from attacking me as much as possible. But as well, I think we have to create the right culture around the club that’s going to make a good living out of the players, create an environment where everybody respects each other, a humility and people have to be accountable for what we want to achieve. That’s the basics and then after we can grow from there. Then we can create an identity that I have in my head for this football club. But we have to start somewhere to try to build that up.
I always valued the thought process that Arsene Wenger brought during his press briefings at Arsenal, and now Mikel brings a similar approach – but more corporate with a stoic approach. Corporate as he believes in the cohesion available in the club and believes that mostly he represents the owners and everyone around the club when he speaks. Stoic in the sense that he always answers queries about things that aren’t in his control by stating that fact – we can only control the next training session and to be better than the previous.
These press conferences for Mikel presents opportunities to speak to reiterate his philosophy to fans and players, marketing it, advocating for the war spirit he is building within the team, and building a broken culture back from scratch. Mikel’s philosophy can’t be any closer to Arsene. Here’s what Arteta said during his last programme notes as an Arsenal player:
but what I will take from him [Arsene Wenger] more than anything is the way he’s managed the club – the way he handles the pressure and prioritises the principles, ambitions and restrictions of the club in front of his own commitment, ego and what people are expecting. He has the whole picture. Even with massive pressure, he’s not guided by it. He’s guided by his feelings and what he thinks for the club. He’s so loyal and it’s very hard to see people like that in football.
So we established the front loaded philosophy from Mikel’s FIRST interview. When I listened to that interview and felt the clarity of his ideas I knew he’s going to build something special. Now we move to his non-negotiable values that drives the culture of the club.
The Culture & The Non-negotiables
At the time Mikel joined, there was a big gaping hole between Arsenal as a club and their fans. Toxicity was the defining term that everyone used to describe the rift. Fans asking for more is normal, but fans shouting abuses at the club, club players, and its owners for years is not. Fan groups that were feeding on hate and abuse of the club and its players were the most popular. The team have been failing to qualify for Champions League for several years. Experienced manager Unai Emery fails to change that. Failed Transfer policies. Increased dept. Inside stories of a relaxed/retirement culture kept leading the headlines. Banter became a synonym for Arsenal on social media. It was CHAOS.
Yet there was a man called Mikel Arteta who said I want THIS JOB!
I kept digging, and revisited his first press conference and the main messages were clear:
I have to try and convince the players about what I want to do, how I want to do it, they have to start accepting a different process, a different way of thinking, and I want to get all the staff and everybody at the club with the same mindset. We have to build a culture that has to sustain the rest. If you don’t have the right culture, in the difficult moments, the tree is going to shake, so my job is to convince everybody that this is how we are going to live, and if you are going to be part of this organisation it has to be in these terms and in this way.
Another part where he focused on fixing the rift with the fans:
We need to engage them, we need to be able to transmit with our behaviours, our intentions, what we want to bring to this football club. I think that’s the only way, where we give them a little bit, they give us a little bit, and suddenly we feel that connection, because when you plug these two things together, it is so powerful.
But how does he start? here is what he had to say:
Everybody has to respect each other first of all, and I want people who are accountable for what I’m asking for them to do. I don’t want them hiding, I want people to take responsibility for their jobs and I want people who deliver passion and energy in the football club. Anyone who doesn’t buy into this, or that has a negative effect or whatever, is not good enough for this environment or this culture.
Another aspect of high performing teams is to have a clear list of values that are constantly preached and transmitted throughout every aspect of the club, on and off the pitch. Mikel defined Arsenal’s values as follows:
First of all, respect. The second one is commitment and the third is passion. Those three ingredients are non-negotiable. If you have them then I am sure we will do great things together
There are many more tangible actions that were done within the club like adding imagery and art works that reflects the tradition, culture, and history of the club. These actions are countless after 3 years of this new Arsenal, but it begs the question, how did it all tip?
Was it all planned by KSE?
I keep spiraling between memory lanes and youtube videos and something else click regarding the owners. I remember myself laughing at Josh Kronke for saying the below in response to a question regarding selling the club for vocal bids which were made by Daniel Ek at the time:
The club is not for sale, we are just getting started, we’ve only really owned the club since 2018, we have a young manager, we have a young squad, and we’re just charting our path for the future. In the united states we have a certain model, and we’re implementing that here and we had over the last 3 years, which is young and talented players, with the right mentality, let them grow together while continuing to sprinkle in talent throughout the squad, and eventually it grows into something that is very special. the power of continuity behind the scenes and people working together and pushing into the same direction is an underrated aspect in pro sports. I think that with the power of continuity and allowing this group to grow together, special times are ahead in the club.
I laughed because I thought this was just bubbly/cute press talk but now I needed to dig deeper. So since KSE owns the LA Rams I went to see what they have established to see if they have done something similar as per Josh’s statement. They own the Rams franchise since 2010, which during their tenure moved from the state of St. Louis to Los Angeles. Since 2013 they always had the youngest or one of the youngest teams in the NFL (https://theramswire.usatoday.com/2017/09/03/nfl-los-angeles-rams-youngest-roster-team-average-age/) but weren’t exactly successful. Until they moved to LA and hired the youngest manager in the NFL back then. The story becomes interesting when you see how the culture and vibe are similar to Arsenal. Here’s what the their head coach Sean McVay says about the culture:
I think what’s so special about football is there’s something truly special about being part of something bigger than yourself. It’s about just making sure that we’re a connected team — we stay connected through the adversity, we don’t get too high when things are going well for us. The ‘We not me’ — it’s all about the team. While we always might not be able to do things that makes everybody happy, I think everybody understands that we’re intentional, [and] things are consistently handled the right way. That’s really what the ‘We not me’ means.
Remember the light bulb Gooners?
From Amazon All or Nothing documentary on Arsenal
To add to your confusion, Sean McVay, the LA Rams head coach is often called a genius, and generally praised for his work ethic and leadership. Many people would say that about Mikel Arteta.
This still feels like a theory to me but it feels like KSE knew what they were doing and they were intentional about their choices since taking over the club in 2018. I’m still a sceptic due to the Arsene Wenger exit, but removing that emotional aspect, I feel they are driving the club in the right direction even before Arteta – probably with Wenger’s influence – especially when it comes to the academy.
The fact that LA Rams won the super bowl in 2022, and that Arsenal are topping the English premiere League after 18 rounds against many odds, suggests that the KSE’s strategy is working.
Enjoy the process
Ahead of Arsenal’s game against Manchester United on Sunday (22nd January 2023), I tell Arsenal fans to enjoy the ride and back the team regardless of this season’s results as I believe the future is still much brighter that we feel. We aren’t in the tunnel anymore, we have left the tunnel and we’re bathing in the sun.
Did you enjoy this read? what did you like the most? do you want me to dig deeper into anything else?
Here is a list of links for all the essential pieces of content that I used to draw this article:
Mostafa here 