The Next Vieira?

The second of The Beck’s three-parter summarizing the current manager’s signings before asking in his third and final post: has Arsene still ‘got it’ when it comes to signing players good enough for Arsenal?

In 2005, as well as the January transfer window of 2006, we signed Diaby, Adebayor, Walcott, Vela, Song, Mannone, Hleb and Mart Poom and Fabrice Muamba, Bendtner, J-E-T, Gilbert, Simpson and Stokes graduated from the youth set up.

That summer saw us lose the talisman of the team, the captain Patrick Vieira, who had been reportedly if inexplicably longing for a move to Madrid for quite a while before his eventual departure to Juventus.

Many saw Diaby as Vieira’s replacement but when Diaby started playing on the left side of midfield and cutting inside, many believed he’d have a more attacking role. Diaby’s career has been all but ruined by injuries and only the boss will know when his time is up. In his time with us, he’s shown considerable quality and power. I consider him an asset, a great squad player and it seems other managers think he’s the first player on the French National team when fit.

Adebayor and Walcott were seen as eventual successors to Henry.  Adebayor left for Man City for an unbelievable sum after one great season and another one, average in hindsight (she can also not be a bitch).  Walcott is of course still with us, doing well and getting better.  Flamini performed admirably as a makeshift left back before being switched back to the midfield department, his partnership with Cesc successfully covering all bases but he never forgot that money is the most important thing in the world when leaving on a free to Milan (which I can imagine not many blame him for; there are numerous theories out there that make him look both favourable and unfavourable).

Hleb was quite the skilful player, his low centre of gravity helped him to produce wonders, but his low percentage in finishing disappointed. One that should also have stayed, but opted to play for Barcelona and wrote countless poems at night to Arsene, admitting that he’d made the biggest mistake of his life.

Song essentially did the same to us as Hleb and will probably regret it too. Vela has had an up and down start to his career due to loans but finally seems settled at Sociedad, though we’re all still in love with his dinky goals; maybe too in love.

Bendtner got more of a chance than Aliadiere to prove his worth after loan spells, but was destined to be the Danish bad boy and despite showing promise, is now only promising to annoy Arsenal fans more by running down his contract until he gets a better offer or a signing bonus with a new club.

The other youths from that year, as well as Poom, never really proved themselves at the club, even as we were competing for both the title and the top four spots.

In the summer of 2006, Arsene purchased Tomas Rosicky, as well as William Gallas in a swap deal with Ashley Cole and cash (in hindsight they got the better part of the deal; like I said, bitch). He also signed a young Denilson and loaned out Reyes to Madrid and in return got a man with a rib cage the size of an elephant – Julio Baptista.

Rosicky’s been hampered by injuries but he’s stuck around and the club stuck around him and in the latter years has been a great and experienced squad player, filled with quality, but possibly not the player he could have been.

Denilson had great qualities but was always mocked for being too simple in his play and his backwards/sideways passes.  He never had the imposing figure of Gilberto or Vieira (which counts a lot to fans, but perhaps not the manager).  He made a few personal errors and was never forgiven for them by the fans, nor, ultimately in this instance, the manager, it seems.

Gallas endured a solid spell at centre back but never seemed to get along with Toure and it all fell apart for him two years later at St Andrews.  I always thought him to be a good captain and a great player, but at the wrong club.  His winning mentality did not seem to mix well with the young players who still had some mistakes left in their system.

Baptista enjoyed a few days in the sun during the Carling Cup Campaign which led us to the final, but he never seemed agile enough to compete at the highest level and Arsene decided not to keep him after the season-long loan.

In 2007, we signed Diarra, Sagna, Eduardo, Fabianski and the world famous Pedro Botelho.

Diarra wanted first team action and with Flamini and Gilberto hogging the limelight, he became very impatient and left after feeling he was denied his ‘guaranteed’ starts.  After a solid spell at Portsmouth he transferred to Real Madrid and had a good few seasons there before almost retiring at Anzhi Makhachkala.

Sagna has been the most consistent right back we’ve had and has performed admirably throughout his time at the club. We may even be seeing a transition into centre ‘Bac’ (geddit?!), in order to lengthen his time at the club.

Eduardo was brilliant until his leg break, which I witnessed at St Andrews, in person.  It was horrible, just the worst thing. We Arsenal fans doubtless all retain the firm belief that the title was ours that year had it not been for that leg-break and, surprise, surprise, a few van Persie injuries.

Fabianski has shown classy qualities but also, in the past, seemed a tad error-prone.  At the age of 28, he should be reaching his prime for the club assuming a summer move away doesn’t tempt him ahead of a World Cup year.

Pedro Botelho is a myth.

In the 2008/09 season, we suffered a slow start and signed Arshavin in the 2009 January Transfer Window, he was our record signing and at the time of writing, still is.

We signed Silvestre who turned out to be a man ready with errors confusingly mixed with some solid displays.

Ramsey rejected United for us.  He suffered a nasty leg break at Stoke and after widespread abuse – largely from some of our own fans – has since turned it all around and now looks to be a Welsh Schweinsteiger.  Or just his own Aaron Ramsey.

Samir Nasri was a player that initially never looked like he wasn’t going to produce from his silky ball control but who eventually did before getting his head turned by City three years later after one good season. Samir is now looking for part-time work as a toilet salesman because it’s got to be better than sitting on that bench.

Bischoff doesn’t exist. He just doesn’t.

In 2008, Merida, Wilshere, Szczesny , Watt and Barazite were invited to have a look at the first team, but only Wilshere and Szczesny have made it and look to be consistent and great enough to hold a place in the Arsenal team.  It could be argued that Ramsey’s development has eclipsed Wilshere, but I’m sure Jack will catch up after a good pre-season under his belt. Szczesny seems to need good competition and will only grow to become a better keeper with experience and competition.

In 2009 we saw Vermaelen being the only major recruit. With Sulzeer coming back as a blast from the past and many young players being given the chance to shine. Vermaelen came out action-packed that season and offered so much promise, but after being made captain, has made many personal errors and despite his obvious quality, is yet to make it back into the starting line-up due to other players simply being better and more consistent.

The Beck can be located on Twitter @The_Beck_

Patrick who?

In the first of a 3-part post, The Beck starts on a whirlwind tour de force of all the club’s Wenger-era signings before, in part three, asking the ultimate question; has Arsene Wenger lost the ability to sign players good enough for Arsenal?

In 1996 the first thing Arsene did as manager was to buy Patrick Vieira. Remi Garde joined on the same day as Vieira and that following winter a young Nicholas Anelka was signed, and later the same year John Lukic followed. Anelka and Vieira both had incredibly successful spells at the club but Lukic didn’t get to play much in his second spell at the club due to Seaman’s outstanding form and Garde was essentially a squad player.

In 1997, Arsene ‘gambled’ with a lot of low-fee signings – Boa Morte, Upson, Petit, Overmars, Grimandi, Manninger, Caballero, Wreh and Mendez.  Most ended up being squad players with Overmars and Petit playing the most games out of those signings and, with contributions from Gilles Grimandi, had the greatest influence.

In 1998 it appeared at first that Arsene had ‘gambled’ again with Kanu, Diawara, Luzhny, Obinna and Ljungberg, along with Vivas and David Grondin, a young left back from Saint-Etienne that in the end only made one league appearance for Arsenal.  Of those, Kanu turned out to be one of the most technically beautiful players we’ve ever had, another long legged mack daddy. Luzhny had solid seasons at right-back and Vivas spent more of his career at Arsenal coming off the substitute bench than actually starting. Ljungberg was just sensational and as a Norwegian, you don’t find me often very fond of Swedes (I drive a Saab and have Swedish friends and love IKEA and it drives me insane).

In ‘99 Arsene signed Thierry Henry and the 31 year old Davor Suker, who had had a very good record at Real Madrid and an even better one at Sevilla before that.  Sylvinho was added and Ashley Cole was upgraded to the first team set up.  Stefan Malz, a young left back from TSV 1860 Munchen was also signed.  He ended up making 8 appearances and was never again knowingly considered for the first team. Suker only stayed for the season, making 22 league appearances, scoring 8 league goals and ending it on a sour note when he missed the penalty versus Galatasaray in the 2000 UEFA Cup Final.

Ashley Cole went on to become one of the best left-backs we’ve seen (which we should look back on with pride, but …).

Thierry Henry – well the less we say about him the better – I’m not allowed to get turned on whilst writing a blog (first rule of Beck blogging).

In the summer of 2000 Arsene made a mistake in buying Jeffers (hindsight, hindsight – is a real bitch), but at the time he was the next Michael Owen.  The £ mis-spent on Jeffers helps one begin to understand why Arsene has subsequently proved so reluctant to spend big on apparent English ‘hype’ over the years.

That same year we also signed three players we will never ever forget: Wiltord, Lauren and Pires.

Along with Stepanovs (who was signed to cover for an injured Tony Adams), we acquired Guy Demel who never really made it at Arsenal but who later carved out a good career at Dortmund, Hamburg and now West Ham.

In 2001, Arsene went transfer mad.  For the price of an average Ferrari he bought Kolo Toure.  On top of that £162,000, he also purchased Edú, Tavlaradisi, Inamoto, Juan and Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

We also purchased, Sulzeer (Sol) Campbell for free, from the club that claims they’re better than us every year and yet somehow contrive to finish below us.

Juan never really played the left wing back position for us (but had a decent career at Flamengo) because van Bronckhurst was a really good Sylvinho replacement and Cole was just growing into a world class left back. I still don’t know who Tavlaradisi is, even Wikipedia refuses to tell me but we all know Edú, despite not always being in the first XI.  He was an incredibly gifted midfielder and helped us win the double that year; who knows what a career he could have had if not for the horrific leg injury.

Inamoto and all the other youths at Arsenal hoping to start that year, such as Sidwell, Bentley, Ricketts, Thomas, Volz, Aliadiere, never quite made it. But it didn’t matter because we won the double.  Right?

In 2002, the only purchase I suppose many Arsenal supporters will want to remember well is Gilberto Silva. We signed Cygan from Lille and Warmuz from Lens.  Cygan became a decent squad player in the end, despite not being on the level of the other defenders.  Our squad was solid and although some might have called for more signings that year after just winning the title, Arsene went for low transfer expenditure that summer.

In 2003 Arsene went after Reyes and the fee at the time could have risen to £17m; at the age of 19 Reyes was a Spanish prodigy and we all expected huge things of him, partly because Arsene had by this stage raised our expectations by seemingly routinely turning players with potential into world class stars. Everyone saw that Reyes was special and he had a great touch and quality on the ball, but perhaps he missed that final hunger that does actually make you world class.

The other big summer signing of 2003 was Jens Lehmann.  He came in as an experienced goalkeeper from Dortmund and was an absolutely fantastic replacement for David Seaman.

Arsene signed a lot of youngsters that year – Clichy, Fabregas, Senderos and Karbassiyoon and upgraded a few from the Arsenal academy. Karbassiyoon had injuries and we nowadays see him all the time on Twitter, being the sociable scout he is. Cesc turned into Cesc and although they had personal errors in their games, both Senderos and especially Clichy, turned into quite decent players.  The former had all the qualities to become a world class centre back, but was perhaps too smart for his own good and not confident enough on the field, where it matters most.

In 2004 most of us weren’t ready from cleaning ourselves from all the orgasms we had from going unbeaten. This summer was different to other summers under Arsene as we made no high profile signing. (We don’t care right? We were winning, we trust/ed him).

But we HAD lost five big players in Bronckhorst, Kanu, Wiltord, Keown and Ray Parlou.  But both Parlour and Keown were ageing, especially Keown at 37. Bronckhorst’s departure to Barcelona (on a free) wasn’t the worst thing in the world because Ashley Cole was fantastic, and Gael Clichy wasn’t a terrible understudy.  Kanu and Wiltord were not seeing enough game time as Henry and Bergkamp had created a great partnership that year and decided to move on. With Reyes and a young van Persie, as well as a Bergkamp, it is understandable to see why we did not have any high profile signings at that time.

That season of 2004 we signed Eboue, Almunia, van Persie, and Flamini.  Lupoli was added for peanuts and a host of youth players were upgraded including Djourou, Larsson, Owusu-Abeyie, Connoly and Bradley.

Eboue turned out to be a great squad player but he never got rid of the personal errors in his game.

Van Persie turned out to be worthy of the Bergkamp tag at least until the promises of shiny tin cups and cash got to him. Now in the eyes of Arsenal fans he simply doesn’t exist.

(I decided this).

The Beck can be located on Twitter @The_Beck_

A post by Anthony Hawke from our friends over at OTBAG

Time flies by, and so it seems to have again. But you only feel that if you’re really having a good time or are really excited about what’s going on. Such has been the transfer period for Gooners all over the world, ever since we all first heard about Gonzalo Higuain as a probable Gunner next season. Twitter rumours even said that he was at London one fine day for a medical, only to be summoned back by new Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti. Now, almost a month later, Higuain ended up joining Napoli instead, who were more than happy to meet the Galacticos’ transfer amount. Fans were already enraged as to why we did not pay so much money for a player who is world class, especially since we so publicly announced we have around 70 million pounds to spend. But just because you have money, you wouldn’t spend because somebody gets greedy. There are some morals to be upheld, to some, they just look at it like ego.

During this month though, we have also been linked with Rooney and Suarez. Rooney is on his second “I want to go” tantrum (remember the first one where he pledged his “loyalty” to United after they bent over and paid him 250k pounds a week?) but maybe this time it may not seem about the money. A certain Dutchman seems to have replaced him as the most valuable player in the squad and he has certainly taken over the shooting boots from Rooney. Currently though, it seems he prefers the blue side of London to the red. That leaves us looking at the next best option – Suarez. The moment this guy’s name popped up, everyone started asking “Why Suarez??” My question – “Why NOT Suarez?”

Let’s look at it in a systematic manner:-

1)    Arsenal are in need of a world class striker. Everyone agrees. Even non-Gooners have agreed to this statement ever since Henry left for Barcelona. So when the Summer break began, what did Ivan and Arsene do? Bid for a world class striker. Who? Higuain. Real got greedy, we said no, he went to Napoli. What did they do next? They said, let’s maybe have a backup plan and see who else we have as an option. Two names popped up in the world class criteria who are not exactly settled with their positions in their current teams – Rooney and Suarez.

2)    Fans have screamed out that we should try and get someone who is world class talent, proven and has Premier League experience so that he doesn’t take too long to settle to the Premier League grind. Rooney and Suarez are all that. But Rooney wants to go to Chelsea it seems and Suarez… well he currently doesn’t have any other takers even if Liverpool have offered him to clubs around Europe. And that, transfer-market-logically makes sense to us. If Liverpool don’t have any other takers currently, they cannot afford to extort exorbitant transfer money for him either. Suarez wants to leave then Liverpool would be wise to use common sense and take the money and invest in maybe 2 good strikers, rather than say no and end up not selling him at all and sit with a disgruntled player for a whole season (or 6 months minimum till the winter transfer window). Or Liverpool trust their attorneys very much so that they can stave off any lawsuits that Suarez might file against them, which he has done against former club Groningen to join Ajax, so he certainly may not hesitate to do it again.

3)    Fans would then ask about his on-field antics – the accusations of racism and known incidents of biting and a bit of unprofessionalism here and there. Let’s take it one by one – As far as racism goes, Arsenal have a very diverse list of players on their roster when it comes to racial backgrounds. What better way than to make him feel at home and also show him players from various communities and races can actually play football together? About biting well, let’s just hope our cafeteria has better food or maybe Wenger will ask him to chew gum while playing the game instead (a little inspiration from Sir Alex Ferguson perhaps). And about the professionalism… I think Steve Bould has that part covered.

4)    If you’re the fan who’s going to say “Okay, all that’s fine. But why Suarez? Why not someone else?” And I would respond again “Why NOT?” If you’re the type of fan who refers to a player’s ratings in EA Sports’ FIFA to decide whether a player is quality or not, or maybe you refer to the Premier League’s Fantasy Premier League valuation of a player to see if he’s top quality or not, then you wouldn’t exactly be disappointed. Suarez is amongst the top 5 strikers in the Premier League; the other four being Rooney, Aguero, Ba (debatable) and a Dutchman.

5)    If you’re the fan who says “Okay you’ve convinced me. But he still has about 6-7 matches to serve as part of his previous ban by the FA. So what about those matches?” Then I would ask you back if you’ve seen Giroud play in pre-season yet. Agreed, it’s just pre-season and the teams we’ve been playing are only International sides (right…) and Wenger’s former club who are at prime fitness since it’s mid season for them right now, it still doesn’t prove he can handle it, right? Well, I remember people questioning whether Giroud could even amass 15 goals in a season and he sure well did and got his assist count in the double figures too (too lazy to get the actual numbers but you get the drift). Who are these six teams anyway? Aston Villa, Fulham, Spurs, Sunderland, Stoke and Swansea. Neither of these teams are the type against whom we will be doomed if we didn’t have Suarez in the line-up. Besides, I am confident personally that this time we’re going to have a MUCH better start to the season because we will actually have ensured that the core of the group has stuck together for the first time in maybe 3 or 4 seasons which in itself is a great morale boost and a message to the world that perhaps it is time to stop thinking about Arsenal as a selling or feeder club anymore.

6)    If you’re the type who was already oogling over the prospect of Suarez joining us and if you like tactics and numbers and stuff like that, you’re next question – How does he fit into our system? Well, here’s my amateur take on it. Arsene has been widely and constantly criticized for not having a Plan B. He has stuck to his 4-5-1 or 4-3-3 for a while now and the option of including Suarez in the line-up gives him a Plan B of the traditional 4-4-2 as well. Let me try and give you an example of a scenario I’ve played over and over in my head. Szczesny takes a long goal kick, who’s there to head it down? Giroud of course! Who does he head it down to? Either Oxlade-Chamberlain to his left or Walcott to his right or right down the throat for Suarez. Suarez in my books is a bit more skillful and easily faster than Rooney. When you have speed down both flanks, you have a striker who can hold the ball or head it down to a team mate and then you have one hell of a lethal striker, I don’t see an attack being more formidable than that. Oh wait… there actually is a more lethal and formidable attack. Please add Santi Cazorla and Podolski to that list of people who have skill and long shots in them. Oh shit! How can I forget Rosicky then? And just to make sure we have the whole lot in, stuff in dribblers like Wilshere and Ramsey among them and what do you have? A shit scared opposition defense.

But wait. That still leaves approximately 30 million pounds in our transfer kitty (including what we’ve gained from sales). What do we do with that? Well, Suarez is only the hottest transfer gossip we have going in our direction right now but there are undoubtedly other things the club is working on in the background as well so let’s see how that develops. Add the right names to the list of players I just mentioned above, I don’t see anything other than extremely low self confidence and morale, injuries and suspensions denting our title challenge this coming season.

If you believe as I do that it is the intention of Arsene and the club to improve the first choice eleven then I suggest that is no easy job.

If any purchases have to be of a standard that displaces one of our current best eleven, then the pool of players that are available is quite small. Those players have to be of exceptional quality AND be for sale.

If we have learned anything from recent seasons it is that it’s incredibly difficult and expensive to prise a player from a reluctant seller. Cesc, Judas and Nasri all took an age before we finally ceded.

As far as I am aware, we know that a bid has been made for Suarez. Even then we only know because Liverpool chose to go public. Like it or not – and I do – Arsenal conduct their business in total secrecy.

We know nothing of bids or targets. Our “knowledge” is based purely on hearsay, ITK’s, Sky Sports News, TalkShite and the word of third-rate hacks.

In reality, we can not be said to have missed a target unless we aimed for it in the first place.

I think Marouane Fellaini has a release clause of £25 million, or there about. Now if he was seen as a priority I am sure we could have offered Everton that fee and met his wage demands.  If we haven’t, it’s either because we don’t want him, or another reason that we know nothing about.

Perhaps he wants to go to United? Or maybe we are looking at a better player. We just don’t know, do we?

I accept that there are many players who would improve the squad. But is that really what we are all hoping for ?

The melt down on twitter and blogs is quite frankly pathetic.

You might well think we had no good players at the club. We have players of the quality of Jack, AOC and Podolski who can not always command a First Team start.  For new players to improve our first team they not only have to be better than those three, but better than the first team incumbents keeping them out.

The simple reality is we have no choice but wait and trust the club. What else can we do? Bin bags on seats? Stickers on statues?  Stay away from the ground for the Emerates Cup? Boo and chant some childish drivel about spending f***ing money?

We will get who we get when – and if – the club do the deals.

Patience is not an option.  It’s a necessity.

Today’s post by Bradyesque7

I wasn’t in Copenhagen that night. Neither did I feel the anxiety of having a loved one over there when word got back that there was trouble afoot. It would be wrong of me to suggest how people should feel about prospect of coming face-to-face with the Galatasaray fans again. I completely understand that the very idea of them being invited to a friendly tournament at our ground is unacceptable to many. So with what has gone on in the past, why would the club entertain the idea?

In my view, there is no way that the club aren’t mindful of the tragedy which befell some of our supporters and their families in Copenhagen. To me, this must be a bridge building exercise. It simply must be an attempt to put the past behind us and try to create a more peaceful and prosperous environment.

As an Irish person, I am only too aware of how tragedies and bad blood can last for decades. Were it not for the brave work of a few good men and women, relations between my country and our nearest neighbour would still be fraught with fear and resentment. On both sides, there have been many casualties of that particular conflict but I don’t believe that holding on to past beefs can serve to honour the lives lost.  In the name of progression and peace, a line must be drawn so that people can begin to find some kind of normality without fear.

It is for those reasons that I am encouraged by the actions of the club.

Please understand that I am not telling anybody to simply get over it. I know first-hand that for every life lost in such circumstances, there are many more which are completely devastated.  I firmly believe in trying to build bridges and creating an environment whereby future generations know nothing of such fear.

Victoria Concordia Crescit.

Thanks for reading.  Up the Arsenal!

Since the Premiership began no team has won it that has not gone on a sustained spending spree, in terms of transfer fees and wages, that has seen then considerably outspend their rivals.

Oh sorry.  Apart from Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal.  Three times.

Manchester United, one of the biggest sports institutions in the world is the default winner. Everything being equal, as the richest club, they would dominate their own domestic league, much as Bayern Munich does in Germany. It would take something special to take the title from them.

Jack Walker showed what that special thing was when Blackburn Rovers outspent them and won the title in 1995. United responded by buying it back, outspending them and everyone else over the next few years.

Chelsea – or should I say Roman Abramovich – came along in 2003 and went on what we thought at the time was the Mother Of All Spending Sprees.  Two years later they had paid enough to lift the crown.  Conservative estimates are that Roman has now spent north of one and a half billion pounds of his own personal wealth.

Then came Sheiikh Mansour and he really went to town.

During this period, Arsenal have built a new stadium and won bugger all.

It does not take Einstein to work out why.

It seems that we are now in a position to start shopping for players nearer to the top shelf. However, we are still miles behind United, Chelsea and City in terms of what we can consistently spend.

We have a large pot this year and might have a one off splurge. But it will be a one off. And we still cant go head to head in any type of auction with these three.

So what are we going to do?

Settle for Fourth?

I can’t imagine we have gone through the pain of the last eight years so that we can do that.

Well what then?

For starters we are going to have to buy cheaper, less complete players and turn them into world class players. Of course we are quite a way down this road already.  Jack, AOC, Aaron and Gibbs all have a chance of becoming really great players.

We will have to buy not only top players but also players that fit in with our playing style. I say that because millions of fans world wide have chosen to support Arsenal rather than trophy buying teams on the whole because of the way we play the game.  It’s not because of Herbert Chapman, Anfield ’89 or the Famous Back Five. These fans are more and more going to be vital in funding the club and buying merchandising. Entertainment will be paramount in future.

A manager that can follow the vision of Arsene Wenger and work within the parameters set by the board will have to be found.

This manager, because he will be working at a financial disadvantage, will have to be better than the managers at the other clubs for us to have a chance.

I personally believe that with the right two additions to our squad we will be very much in the mix. No matter what you think could have happened over recent years, the fact is we are in a very good position to kick on because of Arsene’s genius.

We need a manager as good as Arsene to take us forward.

In short, we need Arsene.

I have often said to anyone listening – and to a few who probably were not – that there is a certain magical element to football rarely encountered in other sporting environments.  Although I follow various sports and enjoy all manner of different cultural (and less-than-cultural) pursuits, there really is nothing like football for its combination of excitement, intrigue, glamour, history or sporting endeavour.  And that’s just a small and somewhat incomplete summary of the attractions of something that has at different times been called ‘The Beautiful Game”.

Whilst many of us have mixed feelings about the march of technology and social media in particular, this too has also worked to add to football’s magical mix.  There are countless numbers of football followers who ONLY know each other through the pages of social media, be it blogs, Twitter, Facebook and the rest.  Many have subsequently met up at matches as a result of online encounters.  Whilst it’s usually great to get together with like-minded supporters, the main magic has in fact already occurred as technology has effectively done the hard part and made the introductions.

Whilst I can’t speak for all blogs, here at PA we have many more readers and visitors to the site than actually contribute by way of written comment.  I think this is likely true of most blogs.  Whilst there may be many different reasons for a disinclination to ‘join in’, sometimes it’s something as basic as the language barrier.

I myself – and I know there are many like me – have always marveled at our overseas support and the latest bit of football magic appeared recently during the sellout games in the East as local Arsenal fans flocked to the games in Indonesia, Vietnam and Japan in their tens of thousands.  A little surreal?  Perhaps.  Unexpected?  Not totally!  But absolutely welcome.  It also got me thinking just how many follow the club from abroad and what it must be like to do so, possibly knowing that you may never make it to the Emirates in person.  For those fans, the blogs and Twitter are key sporting lifelines that create connections between those close in mind and attitude even though they may be many miles away.

By chance, I was again contacted last week by a hugely passionate and touchingly sincere Arsenal supporter from India.  What follows is the word-for-word exchange I had with one I’m proud to introduce as my friend, Nidheesh.  I wanted to share one overseas supporter’s experience of football – of supporting Arsenal specifically – as he expressed it via his online conversation with me a few days ago via the Direct Messaging facility of Twitter.

Nidheesh is a reader of many blogs but has previously steered clear of making comments (despite my earlier attempts at encouragement) on account of what he feels is his insufficiently strong grasp of English.  I hope Nidheesh will feel ready to share his views and thoughts in the near-future but for now, he has kindly agreed to allow me to reproduce his comments here from our recent exchange. His words appear in italics with my replies following in plain text; each paragraph represents a new Direct Message:

Hi Andrew, hope u r fine… I cant help myself but ask u that, do u believe what some people here saying Cesc has become a Gunner again?

AA: Hi Nidheesh – I honestly don’t know but some who know much more than I seem to think Cesc may be returning.  Have to wait and see I guess!

Thx for the reply Andrew. I am literally praying everyday for all pieces to fall in the right place come the end 🙂

AA: The foundations run deep and all our structures stand straight and tall; I’m sure we’re going to be just fine. Enjoy these times – exciting!

England is miles away from me. I may not see any of the players with my naked eyes. I wont be evn able to fly to London in my life ever…

But still I feel some telepathic kind of strng affinity for this club. I consider Arsene as a senior member of my family with admiration

 Believ me when we score a decisive goal and when Arsene smiles wholeheartedly, I too is smiling inside… I am exsttic to see Arsene happy

 All my glory hunting plastic club supporters used to mock me nd make fun of our miserly approach.  Earlier I tried to convince them our sitn [situation]

 But now I tell them, “Ya u ppl are right , wht to do?”, Bt inside I am laughing wid a feeling that says “You guys will never know this love”

 When I saw the pic of all Arsenal boys sitting in frnt of the Hanoi Pagoda, I feel them as my own.  I remembered what Dennis said

 U don’t support a football club for its titles or tradition. U support them because u find yourselves in some corner of it.

 Andrew, Sorry if I have went overboard, But lack of my English skills prevents me from expressing my love for The Arsenal to the fullest.

AA: Nidheesh – you have expressed yourself perfectly! For most of my life I lived too far from Arsenal’s stadium, never thought I’d see them

AA: for myself but eventually, after years and years, I finally got there and now I’m lucky enough to have a season ticket.  So I understand you!

AA: Are you in India?  What is your first language if you don’t mind me asking?  How do you get to watch the games on TV?

Please ask anything Andrew, I feel honoured to have company of a match attending gooner. Yes, I am from India, from South India.

Actually, Kerala, my first language is Malayalam.  We get to watch Arsenal on TV.. The premier league matches (3pm) kickoffs usually comes<<<

<<at 8.30 pm here, and the champions league matches comes at around 1.:15am.. I think we are getting the American commentary hre by Tony Gale

AA: Ah, you have to suffer for your devotion! Well the evening kick offs mean most don’t get home much before midnight which is late for those

AA: working the next day.  Also, bitterly cold in winter!  But all worth it.  Hopefully you WILL make it over here one day, don’t give up hope. A

Never felt like a suffering at all, I am working in a post Office which starts around 8.30 am. So I can’t stay all night till 1 am for >>

ECL matches, I go to bed at around 10 pm with alarm set on 1 am, But even my biological clock has understood the occasion and wakes me up

a minute or 2 before the alarm goes, I read somewhere that if u have a strong desire to accomplish something, ur subconscious conspires u to

[make] it happen

Let me go further ahead on the story,  I am an Engineering graduate, but working in  public sector wich demands lesser skills, in fact

the prospect of watching the match at The Grove alone makes me motivated to achve a job that rewards me better and make life bit more [adventurous]

I remember one of ur comments elsewhere, about u getting ur father in law(was it) to watch Arsenal for the first time.. Do you remember>>>

<<the phrase u coined??? The magic wich turns a 70 year man to a 7 year old boy… 🙂

Nidheesh can be found on Twitter @Nidsenal

Today’s article comes courtesy of The Beck.

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Sometimes, when I blog something, I feel like I’m writing about a viewpoint which some simply don’t want to hear or read.  Sometimes, I include even myself in that.  Such people might prefer sitting isolated, in complete bliss, a state which more easily suits their agendas or rationale.  Fortunately, in general, my experience with Arsenal supporters has only ever been good on the whole.

When I meet an Arsenal supporter – on the street, in a pub or online – I mostly find myself laughing.

The people I’ve met from Twitter, for instance, have been amazing and I can’t thank them enough for being in my life. Some people that I had only met once, were sat at tables waiting for me with a ready pint or a shot to start the night, whether I found myself in Hong Kong, Malaysia, the United States,  Canada or the U.K.

Unfortunately there are also times when I find myself speaking to a very small number of people who wake up every morning, feeling the club owes them something.  They also  appear to live with no small levels of resentment toward Arsenal, despite being supporters.

I’ve tried to understand and empathise with these people, but it’s getting more and more difficult for me.

There is also an even smaller number of supporters that perhaps, no matter what the club does, will never be happy, possibly because of ‘external’ reasons – maybe they have either a depressing life or a depressing view on life.

One has to ask the question: Are some supporters too caught up in feelings of entitlement.  Do they simply enjoy moaning?

I’m going to generalize here, and it’s done to make the point.  Sometimes it seems that half of the “Arsenal till I die!” fans, at some point during the transfer window will say something along the lines of:

“Oh! We haven’t signed anyone yet? Arsene out, Board out, Ivan out!”

Whilst we are all customers of Arsenal, we don’t own it.  It may be hard to swallow but it’s effectively the truth. Even if we were part of an ownership scheme, would we have the knowledge or experience to ask for things that are very likely largely beyond our understanding?

Take discussing transfer targets. Some hate it and some love it.  But to demand that your club signs a player, especially a specific player, simply highlights the fragility of your connection to your club. I’ve heard of people who can afford to buy season tickets but choose not to because they feel the club is in bad hands, or because they personally dislike Arsene Wenger. They don’t like what the club “has become.”

This is where we get the hilariously vague demands of “We want our Arsenal back.”

People might say:

“It was never a franchise! I hate Kroenke and his American franchise ways!” 

But that’s not true either, we’ve always been a type of franchise, some sort of business.  Supporters pay for tickets, tours, kits, events and online subscriptions.  Like it or not, we ARE a franchise, Arsenal football club IS a business.

But Arsenal Football Club is also just that, a football club. A club where emotions and traditions run deep, love flies high and memories are ingrained forever.

Some want to disassociate Arsenal P L C from Arsenal F C but it is futile to do so.  They are self-evidently connected.  They are one and the same and these two sides of the same coin have come together to ensure our club has become one of the richest in the world.  That didn’t just ‘happen’ by the way.

But to develop a great hatred of Arsenal as a business doesn’t particularly present you in the greatest or most intelligent light when trying to support Arsenal as a football club.  Especially when that hatred inevitably spills over to the football side and you suddenly find yourself in a supporter’s No Man’s Land.  Forgotten, misunderstood, no longer represented and utterly eclipsed.

What you might ideally want from your club is for those running it to find a way to balance it all.

Unfortunately, in modern life, supporters are often over-exposed to the business side.  Big numbers appear, complicated equations emerge and suddenly it seems that everyone has overnight gained a master’s degree in economics from the University of Cenral London. And nothing you say to them will be enough to convince them of anything that might challenge their point of view.

If you were to attempt to hold your club to ransom and threaten to boycott all things Arsenal until they got the place somehow back in order, Arsenal would simply find another supporter who IS willing to pay.  And in any case you are, in effect, alone in this.

Trust me.

Even if you get a group of like-minded people to do the same, Arsenal still has a waiting list of people willing to pay for the things some existing supporters currently take for granted and would prefer to ignore.

On a larger scale, if you choose to boycott the club during the playing season, it negatively affects players’ morale, the well-being of the staff around the club and the interests of the remaining fans that are supporting the club despite the rights or wrongs of your own personal position.

If you magically managed to have everyone not pay for anything associated with Arsenal until a change was instigated, it would have a destructive impact on the club, both financially and in terms of the club’s image.  Chances are there would still not be a change that all that many of us would be happy with.  

Everyone has their personal resentments.  Everyone has their personal loves.  Everyone has their own Arsenal.

We could theoretically set up groups, like the black bags, the grey scarfs, the turquoise snoods and what not, but again, each group would only ever represent a minority of Arsenal fans whilst supposedly talking for a majority.  Significantly, each of them would probably think that it is vital the whole fan base believes what their minority group believe.  In effect we would become a group of tiny minority cults within a much larger fan base, arguing with each other like it’s high school.

I’m very certain that if Arsenal listened to every group out there, we’d probably be bankrupt and our club probably wouldn’t even exist any more. However, AFC are professionals, they hire professionals, they are intelligent and they have intelligent visions.  Many take for granted the things Arsenal do behind the scenes – off the football field.  But just because they don’t represent on-field results does not mean they are automatically the negative or bad parts of the club.

I am in effect complimenting a business that isn’t mine because I am in love with the other half of it, the football side.  And I have decided I can’t separate both simply because I might be angry with Arsenal PLC. There isn’t really a point to supporting a club if you’re going to be angry with them every week.

Because that’s not support.  It’s just constant criticism.

If I did manage to separate them, it would feel like I am not really in love with Arsenal but rather with what they used to be and I am just hanging on until there is glory again. I don’t want to be like that, and I hope I never will be like that.

Arsenal have us all by the balls and I don’t mind admitting it.  We love the club. We want it to be successful.  Some of us not at any price and some at any price at all. But if they ARE doing the supporters wrong – and you truly feel that they are – I don’t think you will ever get ‘your’ Arsenal back.

It means you are a supporter of something in the past, not of the present, and the likelihood of you getting what you supported in the past is very slim.

And when ‘my’ Arsenal is gone, I don’t think I will ever get it back either.  I will either have to adapt to the new one, or constantly fall in love with it all over again, every year.  Pretty much like I am doing already.

I want us to be winning, not whining.  But I’m staying pure to the principles of support and my own principles.  Much like Arsenal have stayed pure to theirs in terms of class, respect and sustainability.

I think as supporters we should find a way to balance our love for Arsenal and our expectations of both the business side and the football side.

We should find an equilibrium that makes supporting fun, loving, easy and great, instead of depressing or filled with misery and constant moaning and unjustified criticism. This includes changing expectations yearly based on both business and football developments – or non-developments – as necessary.

I feel it is inexcusable to be angry and demanding with something you’re meant to love and can’t really change. And if our club did ever truly fall into terrible hands, there would need to be an entire strategic plan to ensure that the club stayed intact.  And that plan would be for the football side AND the business side.

Not run by a mob, ruling with impatience, fuelled by greed or the feeling of misplaced entitlement but in ways that are soundly moral and commercially sound. 

Ways that, as it happens, can be found throughout today’s Arsenal. 

Our Arsenal.

You can find me at HighHorseWankerThinksHesAllThat@hotmail.co.uk or, on Twitter @The_Beck_

We haven’t heard from our dear friend Frank for quite a while now.He is most likely doing the Grand Tour of Europe on Lady Nina,but wherever he is,he has my best wishes and I hope he knows how much we miss him.

Anyway,here is an old post from him that reminds us of his genius.

Frank looks back, more in sorrow than in anger, to re-tell a chilling tale of a long-lost summer of love, a terrible betrayal and lots of super furry animals.

I was mugged in Seven Sisters.

To be accurate I was attacked in Seven Sisters since nothing was stolen.

Cold bloodedly gratuitously attacked.  A summer afternoon several decades ago spent with a friend and I was heading home to Tufnell Park.  It was an early evening in July but I could hardly see as I turned into the tunnel heading for the tube, eating sausage and chips.  Out of nowhere something hit me on the back of the head and just as I turned, a fist hit me in the mouth.  I fell to the ground in a daze and the protagonists proceeded to kick the living shit out of me.

There was a lot a ‘fackin this’ and ‘kantin that’ as the boots went in and afterwards just the sound of nasal snickering.  Before I passed out I caught a glimpse of two of them.  One in white trousers and a bowler hat with ‘Tottenham Droogies’ written across the back.  The other had calf-length faded jeans, docs, white tee shirt, braces …. and a tattoo on his forearm.

A tattoo of a cock and ball.

I must have been out for a while because when I woke up, the ends of the tunnel were dark.  The reek of urine and unwashed bodies was only just bearable.  I was surrounded by squashed chips and, nestling in the gutter by the wall with not a bite out of it, was my sausage.  My head hurt like hell, split lip, bumps and bruises all over but I seemed to be OK.

I’d got away with it.

Could have been killed.  Could have been maimed or paralyzed for life.  Thankfully I had done what most blokes who are being kicked in the head do, I protected my privates.  Death is preferable to castration.

I had survived.

Slowly I got up.  I just wanted to get home.  Brushed off the fag ends, chewing gum, dog shit.  Stretched out my arms and then my legs, moved my head from side to side.  Tested my aching bones.  Nothing broken.  Lets go home, Frank.  Then someone behind me coughed.

I spun round afraid that they had come back to finish me off.

But there standing in front of me was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.  She had on an ankle length yellow dress and sandals.  She had long, long tresses of red hair and her smile was extraordinary; it could fill a room, or, in this case, a tunnel.  Her smell was intoxicating and as she touched my face with her hand I just knew that she was an angel.

I was dead and on my way to heaven.

She asked me if I was okay.  She asked me if I was in pain.  She asked if there was anything she could do for me … and before I could answer she passed me her guinea pig and started mopping my brow.

Guinea pig?

What the fuck?

She gave me a guinea pig?  Well yes she did.  She handed me her guinea pig.  Cleaned me up.  Took her guinea pig back.  Held my hand and took me to Tufnell Park.

That is how I met Maude.

Oh Maude, Maude, Maude – you were perfect.  She took me home to my apartment and stayed for three weeks.  What a three weeks!

Idyllic.

Walking on the Heath.  Drinking in The Flask in Highgate.  Strolling through Waterlow Park.  Saying “hello” to Karl Marx.  Wearing each others’ clothes.

Actually she wore mine, I didn’t wear hers, I really didn’t.  Getting drunk together on Grand Marnier and sick together afterwards.  Listening to a friend play folk songs outside the Admiral Mann.  I even started to read poetry, although it didn’t last.  Mostly though, we just made love.  Anywhere and everywhere.

In that time I was treated to a parade of animals.

Guinea pigs, rats, hamsters, geckos, turtles, tortoises, parrots, budgies, kittens, puppies, fish, snakes, you name it.

Every day she would disappear for a few hours and return with different animals.  Only on Sundays would she return without an animal and on Sunday evenings she was always very tired.  The explanation turned out to be a bit crazy but I could deal with it.  She let on that she was into animal liberation and spent much of her time nicking animals from pet shops and domestic animal stockists.

Her aim in life was to free them all.

Create an animal utopia where they could all live free from human bondage.  How she managed to get plastic bags of tropical fish and a twelve foot python out of a shop without anyone noticing I have no idea.  But she did it.  Insane of course, and I loved her all the more for it.  We were madly, stupidly, giddily happy.

Until that fateful day in early August.

So far we had lived in my flat.  It was OK.  But I was getting more and more curious.  Where did she live?  How long?  What was it like?  Was she sure that she was not using the animals as a cover for her sneaking back to a long time live-in partner or husband?

Joke, sort of.  What was she hiding?

After much cajoling on my part she finally agreed that we could stay at her place.  She lived in a flat on the first floor of a Victorian house on the A10 near to the junction with Clapton Common.  She had been on her way home when she found me in the tunnel.

So off we went.

We spent a pleasant few hours in the Spaniards’ Inn and went to a party with friends in Stoke Newington.  Caught a taxi to hers.  Let ourselves in.

Her living room was full of no-longer-soon-to-be-pets.

It was smelly and it was noisy, but she cleared a space  and we sat and drank tea and chatted amongst the boxes, cages, baskets and tanks.  Finally we fell into bed exhausted.  The following day was Monday and neither of us needed to get up early.  We were very soon fast asleep in each others arms.

We awoke on Monday morning refreshed.  She made cups of tea and brought them back to bed.  Gradually we began to get interested, the way you do.

We kissed and cuddled …

Then Maude whispered that she would like to make love in daylight amongst the trees and birdsong.  Her garden was beautiful at this time of year, she said.  She asked me to open the curtains and open the window.

Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes.

About as excited as I have ever been in my life I leapt out of bed, hopped to the almost full-length sash window and threw open the red velvet curtains to let the sun in …

The No 149 bus route has been transporting the residents of that area to the City for many years and I believe that it still does to this day.

In the days of the old Routemasters, in the rush hour the bottom deck was crammed full of people, many standing and some dangling from the platform at the back.  Upstairs was calmer and those fortunate enough to get a seat were able to read the paper or a book, do the crossword, do the Pools, knit, or in most cases just sit and watch the world go by.  There are a number of points on that journey where the bus comes to a standstill for quite a while as the traffic gets well and truly jammed.

One particular point is just outside Maude’s flat.

The floor of the top deck on those buses is roughly about the level of the first floor of that particular block of houses, and the windows of the bus are about six feet from the residents’ windows.  You can see awful lot from the top of that bus and on that day passengers had a real treat.

As the curtains opened they were greeted with … think of Leonardo’s Study of Human Proportions according to Vitruvius. 

But weedier and in a state of arousal.

For my own part I just remember seeing an endless stream of tickets coming out of the Clippie’s machine and thinking thank goodness they can’t see my feet because I’ve still got my socks on.  I turned to shout at Maude for setting me up, and as I did so I noticed something.  Something very serious indeed.  Something which caused me to shut out the embarrassment of the last few seconds completely.  I couldn’t believe it.  I froze.  The blood drained from my face and obviously from other places.

The bottom fell completely out of my world.

In the lower right hand corner of the window was a sticker.  Not a very big one, about the size of a bob-a-job sticker.  But this particular sticker had a motif on it.  A dreadful symbol.

A cock and ball.

We just hadn’t discussed football.  People had the summer off in those days.  No transfer activity.  I turned to her and just shouted “TOTTENHAM” at her at the top of my voice.  At first she completely misunderstood and she laughed and shouted:  “YES. YOU TOO …?”.

But before she could finish, she realised.

It was probably me screaming “YOU ARE A FUCKING SPUD” that gave it away.  Her beautiful face contorted into an ugly grimace and in a vicious whisper she spat “Arsenal.  You are a fucking Gunner?  You bastard”.

I couldn’t stay.

I needed air.  I grabbed my clothes, putting them on as I scrambled through the menagerie in the living room.  I got to the front door and slammed it to, shutting out the cacophony behind me.  I headed for a café on the corner of the block, ordered coffee and just sat in a window seat sipping and smoking.  I half expected her to follow and to be honest I half hoped that she would.

But I realised it was over.

I could take the pet rustling and I could even take being humiliated in front of a bus full of people but I could not take the fact that she was a SPUD.  That could never work.

But that was not quite the end of it.

As I sipped my third coffee, having smoked half a pack of cigarettes, two panda cars and a police van arrived at her flat.  Maude was led out in handcuffs and for the next hour policemen loaded the back of the van with her contraband, Noah’s Ark fashion.  I felt bad about that at the time as I watched her driven away in the back of the police car it seemed unjust that she should go down for stealing animals when she had such good if not misguided intentions.  It turned out in court about six weeks later though, that every Sunday she ran a pet stall on Club Row.

She had been nicking pets and flogging them on.  She also stole them to order.

I will always remember Maude though and if I ever meet her again, which is very unlikely, I know exactly what I will say to her……………

“CARMON ARSENAL CARMON ARSENAL CARMON ARSENAL

ARSENAL, ARSENAL, ARSENAL….ARSENAL, ARSENAL, ARSENAAAAL…ARSENAL, ARSENAL, ARSENAL….ARSENAL….ARSENAL”

Word of warning: I do not have to have the tactical knowledge of a primary school coach, let alone Wenger to fully appreciate or realize all the things Arteta does in the team. I just watch us play and will try to write on the limited things I see.

They don’t get it, do they?

Arteta is Arsenal’s deepest lying midfielder. Arteta is not a temporary solution or a patch up job. In fact, a temporary solution would be the player who plays in that position when Arteta is injured/rotated.

Looking back at our season now, I now notice that our midfield was in particular rarely overrun. Sure, there was the phase when the whole team played with fear and we were dominated. However, I am struggling to think of instances where the midfield two in front of the defense was the weak link.

You notice good attacking play by the buzzing of purposeful activity – the movement, triangles and passes. I am starting to think that the opposite is true for good defense. I think that a good defense is one that quietly and efficiently nullifies threats and brings last ditch defending to a minimum. An over worked defense making clearances, last ditch tackles and the goalkeeper making save after save is the one you notice.

Arteta was a vital piece of our usually quiet and efficient defense last season. If I think of Song in that position two seasons ago, I can picture the numerous times our defense was attacked after the opposition overran our midfield. Usually Arteta would be the one in our box, desperately defending. Now, Song was a good player, certainly much better than the then flavour of the month Scott Parker. Arteta is however much better in the role. That is why I think Song was sold without a fight.

I believe that even if you find yourself in something as physical as a street fight, you improve your chances if you are alert, think on your feet, are aware of your surroundings and look for effective ways to incapacitate your opponent.  That is what Arteta is to the team. He is a thinking fighter. He is not the guy rushing at you predictably with his arm raised. He is not the midfield tank that fells the opposing player. He is the guy who cuts off available channels for the opponent. He is the guy who steals the ball. The guy who turns attack into defense. As an attacker, he can pick a pass, hit a sweet free-kick and is the first person you would ask to take the penalty.

I think it was Poznaninmypants who said that Arteta is an extension of Wenger on the field. There is even a video on his blog showing them animatedly discussing football (It is possible the discussion is about Gervinho’s hair). They are at it for quite a while. I agree with Poznan and I think it is a big plus for Arsenal that we have a leader on the pitch who is on the same wavelength as our manager.

Wishing one of the best deep lying midfielders all the best for the new season and hoping he gets called up to play for Spain sometime in the coming year.

by Sensational Arsenal