Author Archives: keenosafc

Media defend Spurs failure

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It’s happened again, it’s happened again,
Tottenham Hotspur, it’s happened again.

3712 days since Spurs last won a trophy.

I do not particularly want to “celebrate” Spurs losing against Manchester United at the weekend, because that in itself is a very Spursy thing to do.

For as long as I have known, Spurs fans have celebrated every Arsenal failure as if it was their own success. Every final lost, every time we were knocked out of the Champions League, or finished second in the Premier League, they celebrated.

This is down to them having no success of their own. They had nothing to celebrate themselves, so had to celebrate another clubs failures. They are the kid that laugh at the A* student for getting a B when them themselves got an E.

But then Spurs are the gift that keep giving.

The clubs motto is “The game is about glory”. Well, Saturdays defeat made in no trophies in 10 years. They really should be done for false advertising.

What has been funny about Tottenham’s defeat is the way the media have spun it. They would never let anything negative be written about the club the love, and the fall-out has been hilarious.

So according to Jonathan Wilson of The Guardian, Mauricio Pochettino’s time at Tottenham should not be defined by the trophies they do win.

Pochettino’s reign is that every time he has been set a problem he has responded Wilson says. Yet he has not solved the problem Spurs have win semi-finals. It is now 8.

He go’s on to speak a lot of gibberish, including this nugget: whichever club wins or loses it, this season’s FA Cup will be forgotten by the end of August. I imagine it will not be too hard to find articles from Wilson talking about how the “magic of the cup is being lost” and pointing out the managers who “disrespect” the competition.

But then when it comes to defending Tottenham’s lack of trophies, he is more than happy to disrespect it.

The reality is, most of us can name every single winner of the FA Cup in our memory. From 1987 (I was 2) to the present day, I can name every single winner. I can not, however, name every single side that finished 2nd in the last 10 years – let alone in the last 30 years. And I could not tell you who finished 4th for the last 5 seasons.

It is the winners who are remembered. The game is about the glory, unless it is Spurs.

That Mauricio Pochettino is emulating Arsene Wenger’s early Arsenal years is surely an April Fools Joke? People actually seem to forget that this is now Pochettino’s 4th season with the club. His 4th without a trophy.

In Arsene Wenger’s 2nd season at the club (his first full season) he won the league and the FA Cup. In the 4 years, Arsenal finished 2nd twice, 3rd once. He made a League Cup Semi-Final, an FA Cup Semi-Final and the UEFA Cup Final. Pochettino has led Spurs to just the one final (League Cup), which they lost.

To try and compare the two is just silly. Wenger won trophies, Pochettino has not.

“”He’s got a young English side with a lot of talent and I think they’re going in the right direction. The way they’re playing at the moment, it’s similar to the way Wenger had been playing when he first went to Arsenal.”

This shows that Darren Bent did not have a clue what he was talking about.

Arsenal’s early success under Arsene Wenger was not built on a young English side. It was built on senior English players, like David Seaman, Lee Dixon and Tony Adams, and young foreign players in Patrick Vieira and Nicolas Anelka.

If you want to compare Spurs to Arsenal, compare them to the Arsenal side of 2006-2013. A lot of young, talented players who are failing to win trophies. Players who are underpaid in comparison to other clubs. Players who will leave the club sooner rather than later to seek success and more money elsewhere.

Another comparison is to Newcastle of the late 90s. Winning hearts and minds of neutral fans, but no trophies.

Going back to the comments made by Jonathan Wilson about no one really caring who wins the FA Cup. I pretty much guarantee that Newcastle fans wish they had have won the FA Cup, or any trophy, during that period of success. That just being competitive and showing progression meant nothing when they got relegated in the mid 2000s.

https://twitter.com/chrislaurie89/status/987977111880261632?s=21

And that is the truth.

Keenos

Sky still trying to re-write football history

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Sky TV and the Premier League. If I had to pick a date when football as we used to know and love it started to go down hill, it would be 1992.

It was at this point, top division clubs decided to go it alone. To break away from the Football League and set up the Premier League. It was at this point that clubs became more interested in the money they can make, rather than look after the loyal fans who stuck around when football was not as popular as it is now.

And hand in hand with those Premier League club was Sky TV, Sky Sports, BSkyB or whatever they wanted to be called back then.

A lot of what I hate about football these days is due to Sky and the Premier League.

The disconnection of players to clubs, the boasting about “mega money TV deals” whilst ticket prices continue to rise, and kick off times. Those bloody kick off times.

But perhaps the most annoying thing that Sky TV and the Premier League done is white wash anything that became before it.

The Premier League is actually no different to the old First Division. Bar the trophy and greed, it is still the “Top flight of English football”. It is why it always baffles me when people talk about “Premier League records” as if football did not exist prior to 1992.

Sky ignore anything prior to the Premier League because they do not have the rights of the footage. Greed means that they refuse to pay the BBC, ITV or whoever owns the footage of games in the 80s, 70s and earlier.

It was actually hilarious that after Sergio Aguero scored his memorable goal against QPR a few years back, that Sky promoted it as “the best end of the season. Ever”. It completely ignored 1989, Arsenal at Anfield.

Even a neutral will say that Arsenal beating Liverpool at Anfield was a greater finish to the season that Manchester City beating QPR.

We then have Sky constantly talking about Mo Salah. That he is going to “break the Premier League goals record” and that “Harry Kane is the second quickest player to 100 Premier League goals”. We get it, Sky only care about the Premier League. In there mind there was no football before 1992.

And the above graphic is hilarious. Apparently now, the 10 league titles Arsenal won prior to the Premier League count for nothing.

Some people might say “stop living in the past, history does not matter”. Yet according to Sky’s graphic, Arsenal’s table topping sides of 1989 and 1991 are meaningless, whilst Manchester United winning the league title in 1993 can be counted.

The majority of fans can see through this. But sadly this is starting to change. You read about Manchester United fans mocking Liverpool fans for “never having won the Premier League”. Chelsea fans boasting about how they are the “second most successful team in Premier League history.”

The reality is Chelsea are still behind Everton, Sunderland and Aston Villa when it comes to league titles.

I guess it is not a surprise that two clubs as unsuccessful as Chelsea and Manchester City only care about “Premier League Era” results because it makes up for their lack of success in the previous 100 years of football.

The worry is that with Sky pushing the “Premier League” agenda and football becoming more influenced by foreign fans, that achievements prior to 1992 will be deemed meaningless in comparison.

And they are not meaningless. They are part of history. Part of the English game. Whether it be 1991, 1989 or 1931, they all count the same.

Sky need to stop disrespecting the history of the game just because they do not hold the rights to the highlights.

Keenos

Ps: Some Arsenal fans will bash this article saying I am “living in the past”. They might be true, but these same fans probably also moan every day on Twitter about Modern Football. Maybe some people just like to moan?

Arsene Wenger set to leave at end of the season

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It has been announced by the club that Arsene Wenger is set to leave the club at the end of the season after 22 years with he club.

The Frenchman joined the club in 1996 and, after a successful first decade with the club where he revolutionised the English game, the last 12 years have been a struggle.

Recently, despite winning 3 FA Cups in 4 years, making a League Cup final and being in the semi-final of the Europa League, attendances at the Emirates have been dwindling.

In some recent Premier League games, estimations are that the ground was up to 25% empty, with barely 40,000 going through the gates.

Ivan Gazidis once said that he is governed by the fans. That Arsene Wenger will remain in his job for as long as the fans were backing him.

What began as a trickle with a few fans calling for his head has exploded over the last few years where the majority of fans wanted Wenger Out. A recent Arsenal Supporters Trust fan survey saw 88% of those who responded saiy the board should end his contract after this season, with only seven percent in favour of him staying in charge.

It seems the club have listened to the fans. They have noted the empty seats. The negativity on social media. The tide turning in surveys. They have listened and they have acted.

We still have a Europa League to fight for. This news needs to unite fans. 2with the home leg already sold out, lets get rid of the negativity surrounding the club. Use our voices for good. And back The Arsenal to glory.

Keenos