Attendances dwindled at Unai Emery’s dull press conferences. The modern manager needs to lead by words as well as deeds to maintain a club’s profile and Arteta has made a good start

The global success story that is the Premier League has had certain core drivers – money, slick marketing, talent, money, content, exposure, more money – and morphing from the monster have been particular phenomena. As Arsenal presented Mikel Arteta as their new manager on Friday evening, one of them felt particularly relevant. It is the personality cult of the manager.

The manager of an English club has long been at heart of the business, the person who makes the big decisions on the all-important technical side, and he has always had to face the media. But as the league’s profile has entered a different stratosphere, so the demands on him to explain his choices and, very often, those of his club have ramped up.

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