New realities spook board into turmoil

BRUCE RIOCH's sudden departure from Arsenal less than a week before the start of the new season is a gift for the cynics. In this instance it is, indeed, hard not to take the cynical view that Rioch was minding the manager's office at Highbury until somebody the club fancied more strongly came along.

How else is one supposed to react when, no sooner has Rioch finally signed a three year contract, the Arsenal board calmly announce that they have decided "it was in the best long term interest of the club that Mr Rioch should now leave".

Perhaps Mr Rioch's biggest mistake was in waiting 14 months to decide that it was in his best long term interests to become George Graham's successor on any kind of permanent basis. Even as he was telling the Arsenal Club call that everything had been signed, settled and sealed the bookmakers were refusing to take any more bets on his imminent departure.

Then again, whoever had to pick up the pieces in the wake of Graham's dismissal in February last year, following allegations of illegal payments, was always going to be on a hiding to nothing. Graham left Highbury in disgrace, but remains Arsenal's most successful manager since Herbert Chapman in the 1930s.

Under Graham, Arsenal won two championships in three years as well as the FA Cup, two League Cups and the Cup Winners' Cup. Highbury is now a stadium fit for the 21st century. Arsenal and their fans are impatient to find a successful team to go with it.

Rioch seemed to have captured the mood of the moment last summer when he signed Dennis Bergkamp from Inter Milan and David Platt from Sampdoria for a total of £12 million. At last Arsenal were back among the big spenders. Not for long, however.

That Arsenal should switch managers at this point betrays their desperation at seeing Manchester United and Newcastle United poised to contest the Premiership unless Liverpool intervene. The stakes have been raised, and Arsenal are still looking anxiously at their hand.

Rioch's successor may have outstanding credentials. But he will still have to rebuild an ageing defence as well as finding someone to provide the creative touches in midfield which were never Arsenal's hallmark even when Graham's teams were winning the league.

Bergkamp's skills have had the effect of an artist's brush rather than a draughtsman's contract. The picture has looked prettier, but the design is still the same.

Now that Arsenal have marked time during the summer sales, a recovery will be that much harder to achieve. Alan Shearer's £15 million move to Newcastle will have hiked up the asking prices for other English players and it is a bit late to go abroad, even to Scandinavia.

Was the way players were signed, post Graham, one of the reasons why Rioch pondered for so long over his contract?

Following Graham's dismissal Arsenal adopted a policy of dealing with the buying and selling of players at board level.

David Dein, the vice chairman, and Ken Friar, the managing director, actually signed players. Rioch's role was confined merely to suggesting the men he wanted. Last season he did not appear to be happy with this situation. In a way Rioch has become the principal victim of the Graham hangover.

He was Arsenal's second choice, of course. They wanted Bobby Rob son, now at Barcelona. Then again, Graham was only appointed in the spring of 1986 after Arsenal had made an unsuccessful approach to Barcelona's manager at that time, Terry Venables.

Yesterday's announcement diminished Arsenal more than it did Rioch. It also suggested that Highbury's problems will not be solved simply by appointing a big name to replace him. There may be more turbulence ahead in London N5.