Arsene Knows! or Arsene, No!

Further to Macleod (M)'s recent post re this month's Arsenal v Leeds United game (and the text that he sent me, immediately after the match, pointing out that the Thierry Henry sideshow had papered over the cracks), I read the following from Martin Samuel, in the Mail, earlier this week:

Everyone wants a trophy

'Do they like Arsenal, or do they just like Arsenal with trophies?' Dennis Bergkamp once asked of the famously critical fans. Thierry Henry will claim that as his point, too. Yet Bergkamp was 11 years at the club, arrived in 1995 and never left. Henry fled to Barcelona at the age of 29, two years after Arsene Wenger's team won their last competition, the 2005 FA Cup. It turned out he didn't like Arsenal without trophies, either. Who does?

Who does? Me, for one.

Of course, I'd prefer Arsenal won things. But it's not as if they haven't come close, very close, during the now six-season-long drought.

I'm as certain as can be, for example, that if Martin Taylor hadn't shattered Eduardo's leg at St Andrews in February 2008* then the Gunners would've won the league that season. Comfortably.

*I distinctly recall that Maidenhead United were playing at Bognor Regis Town that day and, in the time it took me, Craig, Murdo to walk from the parked car to the ground, Arsenal conceded a last-gasp equaliser from the penalty spot. We arrived to witness, on TV in the clubhouse, captain William Gallas behaving like an eight year-old girl.

Meanwhile, only an uncharacteristic man-of-the-match display from Ben Foster - and an almighty defensive cock-up - denied Arsenal a Carling Cup success last season. (Birmingham City, who won it instead, were subsequently dogged by rumours of financial problems, suggesting that they - like Portsmouth, Lewes, Windsor & Eton and countless others before them - had bought success using money that they didn't actually have.)

Let's say Arsenal had managed to win last season's Carling Cup. Would that have meant more, in itself, than qualification for the Champions League? I'm not sure. Under Arsene Wenger, Arsenal have qualified for European club football's highest-profile competition for 14 seasons in succession. An extraordinary achievement, particularly bearing in mind Wenger has done it without spending the amounts of money on transfer fees that other clubs have (and I'm talking about Aston Villa, Liverpool, and Tottenham Hotspur here; not just Manchester United, Chelsea and, more recently, Manchester City).

Arsene Wenger has completely transformed Arsenal FC and for this he deserves tremendous respect (from Gooners, if no-one else). Although the aforementioned trophy-drought is undoubtedly frustrating, 14 successive seasons in the Champions League (without breaking the bank in the process) is not be sniffed at. Neither is the superb new stadium and training ground built on his watch. Neither is the fact that Arsenal FC is now synonymous, the world over, with attractive, passing football (as opposed to offside traps and 1-0 wins). Indeed Wenger, IMO, has so much credit in the bank, as it were, that - not unlike Fergie at Old Trafford - only he should decide when it is time to call it a day. No-one else.

That's not to say that the Frenchman doesn't have his faults. Far from it. Of course he does. He is stubborn and a bad loser, for starters. Tactics have never seemed to be a strong point of his, either. The 8-2 defeat at Old Trafford earlier this season was an obvious low-point. The 'throw away leads with sloppy defending' defeats at Fulham and Swansea, either side of the Leeds game, were typical of recent Wenger sides.

Indeed, despite the fact that I am clearly a huge Wenger fan, this season has brought into focus something that I've been somewhat concerned about for a while now: the way things fizzled out for him at AS Monaco.

Wenger became Monaco manager in 1987. He had immediate success, winning the title in his first season. A French Cup success followed in 1990/91. Future stars were plucked from relative obscurity (George Weah from Cameroonian football, Youri Djorkaeff from Ligue 2 Strasbourg). Despite under-achievement in Europe (Monaco were UEFA Cup Winners' Cup runners-up in 91/92), they were consistently good in the league, albeit frequently pipped at the post by a wealthier rival (often Olympique Marseille, also Paris St Germain).

Sound familiar? It should.

Wenger became Arsenal manager in 1996. He had immediate success, winning the double in his first (full) season. Another double followed in 2001/02. Future stars were plucked from relative obscurity (Patrick Vieira from AC Milan reserves, Thierry Henry from the doldrums at Juventus). Despite under-achievement in Europe (Arsenal were UEFA Cup runners-up in 99/00, and Champions League runners-up in 05/06), they were consistently good in the league, albeit frequently pipped at the post by a wealthier rival (often Manchester United, also Chelsea).

Monaco's league placings under Wenger:

1987/88 – 1st, 88/89 – 3rd, 89/90 – 3rd, 90/91 – 2nd, 91/92 – 2nd, 92/93 – 3rd, 93/94 – 9th

Spot the abnormality.

Arsenal league placings under Wenger:

1996/97 – 3rd, 97/98 – 1st, 98/99 – 2nd, 99/00 – 2nd, 00/01 – 2nd, 01/02 – 1st, 02/03 – 2nd, 03/04 – 1st, 04/05 – 2nd, 05/06 – 4th, 06/07 – 4th, 07/08 – 3rd, 08/09 – 4th, 09/10 – 3rd, 10/11 – 4th, 11/12 – 5th*

*currently (goal difference separates them from 6th, one point separates them from 7th)

Again, spot the abnormality (as things stand).

During what transpired to be Wenger's final season at Monaco, his side plumbed depths previously unknown during his tenure, and things ended on a sour note (Monaco refused him permission to talk to Bayern Munich, only to sack him a few weeks later after the vacancy in Germany had been filled).

Did he take them as far as he could and/ or did he need a new challenge? Did other sides copy/ better his methods? I don't know. It might have been a combination of these and other things.

Regardless, I wonder if history may now be repeating itself, for him, at Arsenal ...

Rooney, Fergie and co. are tomorrow's visitors to the Emirates. It's a slap in the face for both sides that the Premier League's game of the day is instead Man City vs Spurs!

Do I think Arsenal will finish below Tottenham - outside of the Champions League placings - and therefore in their lowest position ever, under Wenger? Yes.

Do I think that Arsenal will win a trophy (any trophy!) this year? No.

Do I think that fans who pay extortionate ticket prices have every right to be pi$$ed off that significant sums have consistently *not* been re-invested in proven, established signings? Yes.

That said, do I think Wenger should be replaced? No. No way! To my mind, it's a case of "you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone" and "be careful what you wish for". (And don't just take my word for it, ask Monaco.)

Who does (like Arsenal without trophies)? Me, if that's the way it is.

Up the Arse!

P.S. While we're on the subject of Arsene Wenger, I still laugh at the 'Stan' parody 

:-)

Away Day Diary: Arsenal 1-0 Leeds United (09/01/12)

+++ Disclaimer for anyone under 18 or with sensitive eyes +++

+++ Contains sweary words, including 'shit', 'wanker' and 'fucking' +++

FA Cup.

3rd Round Weekend.

One of the highlights of the football calendar and memories of yesteryear, conjuring up images of Ronnie Radford, parka's, mud heap pitches, Mickey Thomas before he started printing his own money, giant-killing by the likes of Sutton United, Yeovil Town and Woking (albeit not this season as they somehow lost to perennial cup under-achievers, Maidenhead United).

Well, sort of.

The Sky Generation (est. 1992) and some media types reckon the luster of the FA Cup has diminished in recent years, and peaked when Manchester United opted out of the competition in 1999/2000, in order to play in the World Club Championship. Apparently part of the thinking was that it would boost England's chances of being awarded the 2006 World Cup. More great blue sky thinking from the FA then. Well done.

Anyway, I digress. Apart from the wankfest tie between Yoonited and Citeh, Arsenal v Leeds was one of the few other games which allowed for maximum armchair usage. And so it came to pass. The great gods of Tellyboxland decreed that Monday night seemed a good slot to allocate this tie, just the one day after the 4th round draw had been made.

Although it was a right balls-ache for some Leeds fans, off the back of the same fixture in the same round last term, it was a chance for me and fellow fan James to actually get a ticket this time. A packed away end of more than 5,000 Leeds fans were greeted with the sight of a very decent stadium.

Having arrived early, and not bothering with a swift pint, I didn't even have time to consider whether the Emirates figures in my 'Top 5 Grounds What I Have Been To' (I think it just misses out to - in no particular order - the Bernabeu, Camp Nou, Olympic Stadium Berlin, Allianz Arena and new Wembley), before I could see two women and a bloke stood by a desk near the pitch. Oh, hang on, one 'woman' was actually Robbie Savage. Maybe I was right the first time.

For those of you who haven't seen ESPN's football coverage, they forego a proper indoor studio, to allow the armchairs the full-on, pitch-side match experience. It's raw, it's gritty, it's close-up, it's shit. And the dozy twats had decided that their desk would be set up right in front of the away end. I'd have loved to have been a fly on the wall in that particular executives meeting. 

Tarquin to Sebastian: "Let's really go for the fans angle, big time. Put the desk in front of the away fans. Kerrrraaazzeee!" 

Sebastian, ponytail swinging wildly: "You are sooooo right, Tarqs. Love it! Edgy. Let's also spend most of the match doing close-up's of various celebs, some of whom the armchairs will even recognise. Right. Time for a moccachoppachappachino. With extra shots!"

Don't take my word for it, though:

"34 min: As loath as I am to hear a bad word said about Rebecca Lowe, who I've met and can confirm is very nice, I have to say I'm most unimpressed with ESPN's coverage of English football. I did notice their FA Cup coverage is sponsored by a company that is to all intents and purposes a glorified loan shark, which may explain their lack of a studio. Surely no producer in his or her right mind could possibly think presenting live coverage involving Robbie Savage, outdoors in January and in front of 5,000 Leeds supporters is A Good Idea"

Female blonde bit, male blond bit/plastic hardman and Martin Keown were stood around, looking awkward, waiting to give the armchairs their words of wisdom. As more fans filed in, the chants of "ESPN is fucking shit", "Robbie Savage is a wanker" and "You're just a shit Gabby Yorath" grew ever louder. Having seen Leeds tonked 4-1 at the mighty Barnsley just over a week before, my expectations for the match couldn't have been lower, so this side-show provided more entertainment than I could have hoped for. Some even chucked hot dogs at Savage. Funny, but at £4 a throw?

Sadly, I missed the highlight when Keown got hit by a stray ball:   

Three blokes dressed as Leeds legend Jimmy Savile then joined in the fun. Leeds legend as in the city, not United. Mind you, he'd probably get a game for United these days, were he still alive.

Apparently, for some reason, the noise the Leeds fans made in the second half was muffled. Nothing to do with ESPN having to apologise for the language then. They're also now reviewing their policy on coverage of future games. Tarquin and Sebastian are now rubbing shoulders with Eight Ace and Mad Cat Woman at the job-shop.

The game itself?

Leeds played like an average hard-working second division side with no creativity, which is what they are. Arsenal played like a side used to dictating the play and possession, but who fluffed their lines too often and are going to struggle with rubbish such as Chamakh and Arshavin featuring in the starting XI. Chamakh even missed an open goal from two yards, having just been given offside. Oh, and some bloke called Terry Henry came off the bench to score the only goal of a dour game. A scriptwriters dream.

The Leeds fans did their club proud and, to be fair, the side did well enough, given their total lack of investment by Evil Uncle Ken. Most fans are resigned to being stuck with him until he moves upstairs or downstairs, depending on your viewpoint. I personally believe him to be the real incarnation of C. Montgomery Burns and that he'll outlive all of us.

As nice as the Emirates was, though, I couldn't go there very often. It'd do my head in. It's nicely packaged, to be fair, and feels safe and corporate. Great if that's your thing. But telling people there's three minutes until the start of the second half? Give me strength. It's football, not the theatre. It also had about as much atmosphere as Highbury, except when Terry joined the party, and when he scored.

Steve Jinman's blog provides an Arsenal perspective. It is interesting to see him referencing Leeds fans permanent state of anger. Pah. That was nothing! You should've seen the stewards and police trying to protect the Ref at Gillingham after he'd sent off both Kandol and Beckord. The 4th official used the electronic 'Gumbsy' subs thingamajiggy to shield himself from the missiles as they rained down on him. Now that is ire...

Marching On Together.

To mid-table mediocrity and the sale of our best couple of players, I reckon.

Bates out!

The Tourist: NFL & AFC

Wembley Stadium and the Emirates Stadium. 

• Separated by: less than ten miles (as the crow flies) 
• Cost: over £1bn to build
• Seats: over 150K

The wife and I visited both, last month, within a 72 hour period.

Firstly, on Sunday 23rd, we attended the fifth instalment of the NFL International Series as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 'hosted' the Chicago Bears. Then, the following Tuesday, we made our long-awaited first visit to Arsenal's Highbury-replacement as the Gunners entertained Bolton Wanderers in the Carling Cup.


NFL

The rather expensive NFL tickets were a 30th birthday present from my parents. I first got into the NFL in the early 1990s; a childhood friend of my Dad's lived in Plano, nr Dallas, and when he visited the UK he would always bring with him some Dallas Cowboys merchandise (caps, mugs, car stickers etc.). An NFL highlights show, presented by the excellent Gary Imlach, was shown by Channel 4 on Saturday mornings around this time and the Cowboys - led by the Hall of Fame 'Triplets' Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin and Emmit Smith - were creating a dynasty of three Superbowl wins in four years. 'Proper' football never lost its stranglehold on me, however, and the NFL fell completely by the wayside as the game in this country moved from terrestrial TV to Sky.

Then, for some unknown reason a year or two ago, I became infected by the NFL bug once again. I really have no clue as to what prompted this, but now my Sunday evenings from September through January are spent watching back-to-back NFL games (specifically the Cowboys, of course), my spare minutes in the week spent checking websites such as Blogging The Boys, Cowboys Nation, NBC Pro Football Talk, Draft Countdown and NFL.com

Perhaps I had exhausted football, to an extent. Certainly English football. Part of what attracts me to the NFL is - I think - the degree of exoticism, of other-worldliness, that it provides; new tactics, new personalities, new traditions, new teams. Histories and legends to be researched. I think some of these same things are what attract me to German football as well ... plus the beer and the sausages, of course! Regardless, it would be safe to say that I couldn't wait for my first ever experience of the NFL action in the flesh.

And we (not just I) weren't disappointed. Despite missing out on the Tailgate Party due to its popularity (and our tardiness), plus the fact the the pre-match beer was unsurprisingly weak-tasting and over-priced, the spectacle was something else; the Americans really do know how to put on a show! Goo Goo Dolls performed pre-kick off, there were pyrotechnics as the teams warmed up, members of both the UK and US Armed Forces held massive flags as the national anthems were belted out, and one Tampa Bay player ran from the changing rooms brandishing a massive Union flag as if he were leading the GB team at an Olympic parade! And as for the cheerleaders ... :-)

The game was rather sloppy, but it was a tight affair that went down to the final minute (as, in my experience, is increasingly common in the NFL). The atmosphere was good, with a variety of NFL team colours on display. A variety of nationalities were also present; I heard French, German and Spanish voices, while plenty had obviously travelled from Chicago, and the bloke sitting directly behind us was a die-hard Bucs fan from Florida who was living in Germany (and distraught by their performance and defeat).

It had been a bad day for the Glazers (both their NFL and EPL teams had lost, with Man Utd getting spanked by Mansour City ... by a barely believable but absolutely hilarious 6-1 scoreline), but a good day for us. A good day that would be rounded off by a few pints in the Green Man pub - where I had last drank with the Macleods and Northwood Mark, both before and after Whitley Bay's Vase triumph over Wroxham at Wembley in May 2010 - which was packed full of NFL fans watching the late games on Sky. My parents, en route from watching Chelsea lose at QPR with my sister, picked us up and gave us a lift home. When connection allowed, I kept checking the Cowboys score via the internet on my phone. They beat Stan Kroenke's St Louis Rams 34-7, with rookie DeMarco Murray breaking Emmit Smith's single-game running record. Great stuff.


AFC

Back to my first love on the Tuesday. First love in two senses; football (generally) and Arsenal (specifically). We'd been planning on attending a game at the Emirates (any game, not necessarily AFC) ever since the stadium had opened, but things had always gotten in the way (gotten in the way of the cheap games I mean; little chance of me spending £40+ to watch a game of football). The KSG's trip to Berwick Rangers vs East Stirlingshire had clashed with Scotland vs Brazil at the Emirates, for example, whilst the wife and I hadn't arrived back from Santorini in time to catch Arsenal's win over Shrewsbury Town in the previous round of the Carling Cup. As such, when I was reminded of this particular fixture, I snapped up a couple of £20 tickets pronto (£10 tickets were also available). Cheap tickets for Carling Cup games (and bigger FA Youth Cup matches) is a great initiative by AFC, one which resulted in a 56,628 crowd for this particular game.

After catching a train from Windsor to Waterloo, straight from work, I met with the wife at Piccadilly Circus. The tubes to Arsenal were absolutely heaving, but at least you exited more or less straight into the ground. After a seemingly endless, fluorescent-jacketed steward-supervised ride in a lift up (and down) the various levels of the East Stand, we took our seats (very comfy, with plenty of leg-room) just as the game kicked off. The view was great - it was like watching a computer game - while the ground seemed more enclosed than it does on TV. The atmosphere was also decent, no doubt helped by a different kind of fan coming to the game, owing to the reduced prices.

It was an entertaining and open game, with a near full strength Bolton side clearly desperate to end a disastrous run of form. Gary Cahill was imperious at the back (and he also looked a real threat going forward), while Ricardo Gardner caught the eye (completely snuffing out the lightweight Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain). Arsenal's youthful full-backs were decent going forward, with Ignasi Miguel (who had starred against MUFC Ltd at York Road in a pre-season friendly a few summers ago, and was playing out-of-position - at left-back - here) controlling one goal-kick out of the sky like Dennis Bergkamp in this pomp! Thomas Vermaelen made several timely blocks before being substituted with a minor calf injury towards the end. Yossi Benayoun was full of running and willing endeavour. Emmanuel Frimpong and Francis Coquelin gave the ball away - and won it back - with equal regularity. The two Arsenal goal scorers stole the show, however.

Bolton had taken the lead after half-time, when Frimpong was unable to control Coquelin's ill-judged pass, and the ball wound up inside the six-yard box at the feet of former Arsenal youngster Fabrice Muamba. Arsenal drew level almost immediately, though, and were ahead not long after. Andrey Arshavin had a hand in both goals; firstly driving a right-footed shot in off-the-post and then superbly delaying a pass to play in Korean striker Park Chu-Young, who curled home his first Arsenal goal, a la Thierry Henry. "Who are ya? Who are ya?" bellowed the Emirates crowd, almost as one, while pointing at the tiny away following hidden away in a corner to our left.

Arshavin, playing in a central role, went from the sublime to the ridiculous, within the blink of an eye, throughout the night. A frustrating player, certainly, but one who is capable of making something out of nothing. Park was, IMO, Arsenal's outstanding performer. Somewhat off the pace - and off-side enough times to make both Chuk Agudosi and Emmanuel Adebayor blush - but exhibiting great touch, and more-than-capable of holding the ball up when needed. As aforementioned, a great finish from him as well.

After a few nervy moments at the end, including a Lukasz Fabianski flap and a missed chance from Ivan Klasnic, the final whistle sounded. Many had left before time, of course, including the American tourists sat behind us (I heard French, Italians and Japanese as well, and reckon there were more foreigners at the Arsenal game than were at the NFL). While I would never leave a game early (my Dad tells a story about how he left Chelsea game with minutes to go when they were 2-0 down, only for him to miss three injury time goals as they came back to win the match!), I can understand why people do so at the Emirates. Even with the vastly reduced crowd, it still took us an age to exit the East Stand after the game had ended. We thought we'd give Arsenal tube station a miss, and instead posed for photos outside the ground entrance before walking unhurriedly to Highbury & Islington. Despite the game having been finished for about 25-30 minutes at this point, there were still huge queues just to get to the station entrance.

As such, we decided on a quick drink (my first taste of raspberry flavoured Kopparberg) in a nearby pub before setting off - on foot - down the A1 towards Angel, passing countless independent restaurants and bars (many jam-packed; recession, what recession??); I can now understand why Islington is such a popular place to live. I then overheard a couple of Arsenal fans, on the tube back to Paddington, talking about the upcoming away game at Norwich City. One, a season-ticket holder, had missed out on a ticket for the game (AFC were apparently allocated 2K). He mentioned that you had to have been to 46 AFC games in the last two seasons to even get the chance to apply! 46 games in two seasons?? I'd just been to my first since, it transpires, Tuesday 24th January 2006 (an after-extra-time defeat to Wigan Athletic at Highbury in the Semi-Final 2nd leg of the Carling Cup); two games in five seasons! I was to contemplate this over dinner (Burger King!), before we caught our intended train back to Maidenhead with time to spare.

In conclusion, two thoroughly enjoyable spectacles. I'm really pleased to have finally ticked off an NFL game, and a match at the Emirates. It all felt a little strange, though. These had both been one-offs, courtesy of an expensive birthday treat and a discounted entry offer respectively, and it was clear that we weren't the only ones for whom these games had been new and rarefied experiences. Now, obviously the NFL is usually played in another country, but I'd certainly like to go to Arsenal on a more regular basis. As aforementioned, I'm loathed to pay the extortionate prices that it would take to do so, however. It was almost as if these two events had been - for us and many others - more like going to the opera, the ballet, or a fancy meal, rather than a sporting occasion.

To me, at least, this seemed like first-hand evidence that top-level sport is becoming more elitist and inaccessible, increasingly moving toward light entertainment for big-spending corporate types and away from it's traditional core support. To all those youngsters attending an Arsenal match for the first time (or virtually the first time) - and thoroughly enjoying a sing-song and the atmosphere in general - I felt like saying "get yourself down to your local lower/ non league club, it's like this all the time" ... and then I remembered that it's not just top-level sport that is seemingly in the process of selling it's soul.

Away Kit Abominations

When Michael Thomas scored that goal at Anfield in May 1989, he was wearing a yellow Arsenal away shirt (I was delighted to receive the full kit, including shorts and socks, the following Christmas).

In an early (if not the very first) Maidenhead United FC constitution, it was agreed that the club colours were to be black and white, with red.

It is my opinion, therefore, that Arsenal's away kit should always be predominantly yellow, while Maidenhead United should play in black and white (with red socks) and have red as a change colour.

As such, I was disappointed to read a recent MUFC Ltd board meeting minute that stated the Magpies are to wear white socks next season. This paled into insignificance, however, compared to my reaction upon seeing the following online photos this week:

After initial exclamations, such as "What the actual f**k?!", the obvious question that presented itself was "Why?"

I suspect, in Arsenal's (or, perhaps more pertinently, Nike's) case, it has everything to do with money; an attempt to sell more units. I cannot believe that another yellow Arsenal away shirt - even one with a rather cheeky, only-very-slightly-tweaked design - would prove any less commercially viable than a W@nky Wanderers-esque jockey silk, however.

As for MUFC Ltd, I suspect this is change for changes sake; a 'because we can' type-of-decision.

FWIW, I think that both the disregard of tradition, and the kits themselves, are regrettable.

***

UPDATE, 05/07/11: Just when I thought that it couldn't get any worse ... I now learn that the t-shirts the rather laughable David Haye and his encourage were wearing, immediately prior to Haye's capitulation to Wladimir Klitschko in Hamburg last Saturday, weren't replica England training tops but the new away shirt (below). Memo to Umbro: Bobby Moore and the other heroes of 1966 wore red!