The Arsenal and Me – Daniel O’s Story

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Before starting this retelling of a life long love affair with my local team, I want to go back to a recent trip to Spain.

I went to visit a club that has ties to Arsenal via them both being a team that Santi Cazorla has played for at some time during his career, and are two clubs that he holds near and dear to his heart. Arsenal obviously being one of them.

The second club in question is Real Oviedo. Located in the Asturias region in Spain, they are the club Santi started his career.

Oviedo are a club with a rocky story, one very much different from Arsenal but no less fascinating. They are a club that I own a share in and recently finally visited and experienced live for the first time. What started off as a trip to see my second club, became a reminder what made me an Arsenal fan.

For me, Oviedo reminded me of home. I grew up on the Holloway Road in Islington.

It did not matter where I went in Oviedo, I would see the blue and white of the club. The Badge was proudly emblazoned on local businesses, whether they were linked to the club or not. The business owners were showing their love, passion and dedication to this fairytale story.

Seeing the level of pride this small town in the north of Spain had for their heroes, reminded me of the same emotions that the Arsenal would evoke in me when I was a young boy.

 Arsenal to me at the start was just a name that I heard on the playground of Pakeman Primary Scholl (less than 10 minutes from the Emirates Stadium).

“Did you see the Arsenal game last night?”, “What a goal by Ian Wright!”, and other Arsenal related topics dominated play time chatter. Red and white shirts seen all around N7 and N5. But to me, it was still just a name.

I was the small, unathletic child who would rather play video games than go out and play football for hours. Sports was not something that I really took up. I had watched England games before. I remember being on holiday in Dawlish when Gazza scored that goal against Scotland in Euro 96. But I was unaware of club football at that time.

That was until I finally asked. “Whats Arsenal” to my father (Who unfortunately supported Luton Town, but the less said about that the better). Little did I know, those two words would start a life long love story. 

After that question, it was not long until I got my first Arsenal shirt – a 1993 home shirt with the FA Cup winners patch on it. The shirt was years out of date at that point, but I did not care. It had the most important thing on the front. The Badge.

From there, anything to do with Arsenal I was invested in. Coaches doing after school football? I would beg my parents to allow me to do it. Arsenal summer camps? Oh you bet I would beg my parents to allow me to do this.

My bedroom walls were soon covered with Drawings of Arsenal players, posters about the club’s history and a collage of Arsenal Magazine covers, and clippings from newspapers. I called it my own Arsenal world of football and it was something that stirred up a sense of pride in my young heart.

This vice like grip a clue can have on an individual is something that I also saw at Oviedo.

It did not matter who you were, man woman or child, the Blue and white of Oviedo were the colours that you would proudly be wearing for the rest of your life. They were the colours you would live for.

Every child who ever kicked a ball or even a crushed bottle (like I witnessed in the concourse of the Estadio Municipal Carlos Tartiere during half time) had the goal to one day play for the team.

It was reminiscent of 10 year old me, training with Tuffnell Park, kicking a ball up and down the Holloway Road, practising my celebrations in the back garden. It was all to one day play in Highbury. Sadly this never happened, but it would never take away from my love for The Arsenal.

It has been 20 years since we moved from Islington, but that fire for The Arsenal never faltered. I now live in Ireland where Arsenal fans are hard to come by. Everyone here supports either United or Liverpool, the latter my brother sadly changed allegiances to due to peer pressure as a child.

Whenever I return home for matches, I see the familiar red and white all around the community and suddenly I am back home. I am that 10 year old who kicked a ball up and down Holloway Road wanting to play for The Arsenal. The 6 year old who got his first Arsenal shirt, and the child who lived and breathed The Arsenal.

Even with me often being the token Arsenal fan in Ireland, Arsenal was at the core of who I was as a person. The way I would play football on the school yard was the Arsenal way, the way I would conduct myself as a person would be the Arsenal way.

I have the club badge etched into my skin as well as the club’s motto but even more importantly, Arsenal will forever be etched into the very core of who I am as a person. The same way it is for the people of Oviedo who fought to keep their club alive in the face of almost certain annihilation of their club.

Puxa Asturies! Vamos Oviedo, Victoria Concordia Crescit.

Daniel

What does Arsenal mean to you? We are be looking to publish a blogs written by you, the fans. What are we looking for? Anything. Your relationship with Arsenal. A memory. Many memories. How you came to support the club. Your current feelings on the club. Anything you feel like writing.

Put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and once you are done, send it to shewore@gmail.com with The Arsenal and Me in the subject. Throughout February, we will be sharing your blogs. Do not worry if what you have to say does not get used straight away. ALL will be published!


January signings do not win you the league

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Yesterday I had a discussion over whether “if Arsenal do not sign a player in January, does it show that Edu and Arteta have written off winning the league this season”.

My simple answer was no. And then I asked “name a player that has come in during January that has had a huge impact in his first 6 months, leading his team to the league?”. No one could name a single player.

The point I was making that taking into account many players need a settling in time, they are often signed in January with an eye on the next season. A summer transfer bought forward 6-months because they became available. That (for title chasing sides at least), they were not being signed to make an immediate impact.

I did a little Google to see what players joined in January, and the impact they made. This Top 20 January transfers in Premier League history blog is from January 2022.

20. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – Made a huge impact becomming the fastest player in Arsenal history to hit 50 goals, but never won the league.

19. Seamus Coleman – Premier League legend. Never won the league.

18. Tomas Soucek – Not sure why he is on this list? Surely there has been better? Plays for West Ham so of course he has never won the league.

17. Youri Tielemans – Had an immediate impact for Leicester City as they finished 9th.

16. Emmanuel Adebayor – Perfect example of someone who was signed with the next season in mind. Scored just 4 goals in 13 games in his first half a season.

15. Mikel Arteta – Did not win the league with Everton.

14. Jose Antonio Reyes – Had an impact with memorable goals against Chelsea in the FA Cup. Scored his only 2 Premier League goals after the league title was won.

13. Ashley Young – Did not win the league with Aston Villa.

12. Clint Dempsey – Did not win the league with Fulham.

11. Branislav Ivanovic – Won 3 league titles with Chelsea, but did not play a single second of football in the first 6 months of signing. Took a couple of seasons to become a regular.

10. Jermain Defoe – Loved a January transfer (Tottenham twice, Portsmouth and Sunderland). Did not win a league title at any of them, but saved Sunderland from relegation.

9. Gary Cahill – “Completed football”. Finished 6th in his first season.

8. Philippe Coutinho – Liverpool won the Premier League after selling him to Barcelona.

7. Nemanja Matic – Re-joined in January for his second spell with Chelsea. Won the league, but 18-months after re-signing.

6. Robert Huth – Joined in January, played almost every game in Leicester City’s run-in as they won the league. Had an impact.

5. Bruno Fernandes – Has not win the league with Man U

4. Patrice Evra – One of the best left backs in Premier League history. 5 league titles. Had a horrendous first 6 months with Manchester United and labelled a flop. First league title came 18-months after joining.

3. Luis Suarez – Goals nearly dragged Liverpool to the title, 3 and a half years after joining.

2. Nemanja Vidic – Signed in the same window as Evra. Won the league 18-months after joining.

1. Virgil van Dijk – Best Premier League defender in the last 5 years. Won the Champions League 18-month after signing, and the league the season after.

Analysing the above list supports my initial view – that players signed in January tend to begin making their impact 6 months later.

Robert Huth is the only man named above who had a big impact as his team won the league. Many of the others (Vidic, Evra, Van Dijk, Matic) were key in their teams winning the league (or Champions League) 18-months after they signed.

This then brings the debate on to whether we should be buying in January for next year, so that they have the 6-month settling in period and will be ready to go come 2024/25.

The answer to that is “yes, we probably should”, but that then does not escape from the fact that the players we are looking at signining will probably not be available in January.

Looking at the names bought “for the next season”, many of them were making a step up from a lesser team, so were available. The likes of Ivan Toney and Borja Mayoral might fit into this category. But the likes Victor Osimhen and Dusan Vlahovic will unlikely be moving this month.

Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal or whoever wins the league will do so due to the squads they have built over the last 5-years, pushed forward by the new signings from last summer. Any January signing will unlikely make a big difference maker in the second half of the season.

Keenos

Oh to be Bukayo Saka right now

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It is bloody cold outside! And it is only going to get colder.

Just seen that by the middle of next week, overnight temperatures in London could reach as low at -4°C. If you have not already done so, I would fully suggest ordering yourself an Arsenal fleece blanket from our friends over at Kick Off Merchants.

The Arsenal players are currently out in Dubai on the winter break. This has led to some criticism as to “why are the players on holiday having won 1 in 7. They should be being flogged on the training ground”.

This from the same people that continually moan players are being overplayed and need a break.

The players will be doing some warm weather training out in Dubai. The warmer weather will allow them to partake in longer sessions than they do in the UK, and in a bit more of a relaxed atmosphere.

Training is not a 9-5 job. The players usually do a couple of hours on the training ground, then some gym work for any hour, and then they are done. They will then have lunch and the rest of the day is free for their own. Some players will do extra work in the afternoon – work one to one with a coach or specialist strength and conditioning work. Others will go to the gold course. Bukayo Saka has decided to have a Fanta in the sun.

There is some Arsenal transfer gossip floating about, as there always will be at this time of year.

We have been linked with Getafe striker Borja Mayoral (no idea!), whilst also linked with right backs Jeremie Frimpong and Sacha Boey (again). I am surprised we have not yet been linked with Wilf Zaha who reportedly wants away from Galatasaray.

As always, I would advise ignoring the speculation. Do not get too attached a deals that are probably non-existent.

We are in the market for players in January, and have no financial restrictions. But we are only in the market for the right players – not stop gap signings.

Edu and Mikel Arteta have already previously shown that they will not sign short term in January, preferring to wait for their main targets in the summer. Remember, every penny we spend in January on someone who is not a main target is a penny less we have to spend at another time on our main target.

Personally, I would rather not spend £25m on Borja Mayoral if we are targetting Dusan Vlahovic, Victor Osimhen or Ivan Toney in the summer. It would just be £25m down the drain.

Then again, if Borja Mayoral is a main target and we have no interest in the trio mentioned above, we should move for him in January if the price is right.

Also, do not be concerned that others (Spurs) are doing business.

My starting point when reviewing business (or lack of) is “has someone else yet bought a player I would want”. And I certainly would not want Timo Werner (his legs are gone) or Radu Dragusin. If we wanted either, they would be Arsenal players.

We have our own targets, as don Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool and others. It is important that we focus on our own business and do not get upset or influenced by others doing business around us.

As a side note, the new Romanian lad Spurs are buying takes Ange Postecoglou’s spending this year to close to £240m. Interesting how the Spurs fans and the media claim “failure to win the league this season will be failure for Arsenal after what Mikel Arteta has spent” yet Big Ange has spent more (Arsenal have spent £200m).

Keep wrapped up, stay warm, and do not get too jealous of Saka lounging in the sun. I am sure we would all rather be where he is right now.

Keenos