The Key Decisions in any Football Club are Made By the Board

Barcelona fired Frank Rijkaard today. A second successive season with no trophies was the reason. Frank's downfall was Barcelona's league position not their semi-final exit to Moan United. They finished third, behind Villareal who spent a lot less in the transfer market last summer.

Who was Frank's big mistake?

Thierry Henry.

Why sign another striker when you already have 3 world class strikers at the club? Not to mention two more waiting in the reserves.

Frank should have signed Flamini from Arsenal not Henry. Instead of paying top dollar for a quality midfielder, Frank went to TJ Max and bought a bargain bucket Ya Ya Toure - a decent midfielder but no better than Steven Sidwell at Chelsea.

Why sign Henry? The Barcelona board wanted him. In merchandise alone they recouped a lot of the transfer fee that they paid Arsenal for him.

But Henry has problems. Most notably with his ex-wife.

He says he misses London. He misses his daughter Tia. He probably misses Arsenal as well but can't say that in public. Maybe he still misses his ex. Men always hold more nostalgia for their ex's than women do.

But Henry left Arsenal in a shitty way. He cited the departure of David Dein as a factor for leaving. It is the first time that a player has blamed the departure of a member of the board of directors as a factor in his transfer.

It was a low blow and left a bad taste in my mouth.

I had a lot of respect for Henry until then. I still hold a lot of respect for him but not in the same way as I do for Bergkamp.

But with Henry citing Dein's departure as a factor as to why he signed for Barcelona, it shows how powerful and influential members of the board are these days. A successful football club needs businessmen who understand football. Dein, in Henry's eyes was one of these businessmen.

You only have to look at West Ham to see how fortunate Arsenal fans are with their current board. Look at West Ham's signings last year and what they earn:

Freddie Ljungburg, Keiron Dyer, Craig Bellamy, Dean Ashton, Lucas Neill, Lee Bowyer.

All of which earn over 50,000 pounds a week. That's more than Werder Bremen who will be playing Champions League football again next season. The West Ham board sanctioned those signings and never questioned their manager Alan Curbishley. The Arsenal board would never have given the green light to these signings. But we would never have made Alan Curbishley our manager.

We have learned from the Bruce Rioch season of 1995-96. We are a different club now. One of Europe's elite. Just like Barcelona.

Elite clubs need elite managers. Managers with experience on the big stage. Not coaches who just starting out in their careers. So why did Barcelona appoint Josep Guardiola?