Tag Archives: Arsenal

The Arsenal and Me – Shan’s Story

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Well how I became an Arsenal fan was by chance, and mostly because of Arsenal’s superiority over Spurs. My Dad in his younger years took an interest in Spurs and subsequently adopted them as his team, my Mum on the other hand, who’d been brought up mostly in North London took a page out of her brothers’ book and became a fan of the Arsenal. So in my younger years; I believe I was about 3-4, a few days before the North London derby at dinner my parents were having a squabble debating who I supported, and in my wisdom I suggested whoever wins that North London Derby I was to support. Well obviously Arsenal won it and I became a gooner, much to my Dad’s dismay. Quite ironically before this, I didn’t have much of an interest in supporting a football team, I enjoyed playing the sport with friends but after that day I fell in love with Arsenal.

I spent quite a while away from London, my family relocated to Kenya in 2002 for a period of 6 years. One quite brilliant story was that the headmaster at my primary school was a Spurs fan, and with him and my Dad being mates I cheekily suggested as an 8 year old boy that I make another bet on the North London Derby during the 02/03 season that if Arsenal would win he’d have to buy me and my sisters (I have 2) ice creams from the school cafeteria, and if Spurs were to win I’d have to write a short essay. Arsenal won with Thierry Henry scoring THAT solo goal and I was that much happier scoffing down some ice-cream. My time in Kenya also brought me my first and and last tear from football, both against Chelsea. First was during the Unbeaten season when we were knocked out of the Champions League undeservedly through Wayne Bridge’s goal, second was during the final season at Highbury when Chelsea beat us 2-0 at home. 

My first game was reasonably late considering I had lived in London, it was Newcastle on the first day of the final season at Highbury. I was seated in the North Bank next to my cousin, I had a Thierry Henry shirt on my back and I felt like nothing could go wrong and Mr. Henry did not disappoint. We won the match 2-0 through an Henry penalty and a late Van Persie goal, I was over the moon, the atmosphere was electric and it’s one thing hearing songs sung on the tele, but to be in the middle of 38, 000 fans singing was something quite incredible. An experience I’ll always treasure. I was quite the tourist at that point, forcing my Spurs supporting Dad to take me to Highbury just to see what it was like in other parts of the stadium, inside the marble halls and whatnot; I was not dissapointed. I only wish I was able to see more games at Highbury because the atmosphere felt that day I’ve not felt on many occasions at the Emirates.

My next visit to the UK from Kenya brought me my first game at the Emirates, a cold winters game against Blackburn Rovers. We smashed them 6-2 and I remember seeing Cesc Fabregas absolutely destroy Robbie Savage in the corner leading to a Flamini goal (although it should have been Cesc’s). During that visit I even managed to go on a stadium tour of the Emirates and met Charlie George and spotted our now assistant manager Steve Bould; these were all quite riveting when you’re a young boy living in Africa.

When I finally did come back to live in London in August 2008, I was truly excited, finally I’d have the opportunity to watch the Arsenal on occasions at the Emirates. Although, during that season I did witness my first loss at the Emirates, a stale 1-2 loss to Hull City with Geovanni scoring one of the best goals I’ve seen live. I saw a few more games that season, including Eduardo’s beach-volley against Burnley, a player who I truly wish was able to carve more of a career for himself at the Arsenal (we could do with him now). The following season, I went to my first North London Derby as a birthday present from my Aunt. That was quite possibly the best I’ve ever felt the Emirates stadium. Spurs were bigging themselves up as they always do  thinking that ‘this was their year’. I remember this game so vividly I can remember Bac crossing it to Van Persie for our first goal, after the goal I dropped my programme on the floor as they were kicking off, a second later, I look up and I see Cesc poking the ball through Ledley (not so much of a) King’s legs for our second. That has to be my favourite goal I’ve ever seen, truly amazing. Van Persie later wrapped up the game with the final score being 3-0. Walking back to the station after that was an amazing experience in it’s own right, the Spurs fans looking dejected and the Arsenal fans chanting ‘Red Army’: 10/10.

Since then I go to about 10-15 home games a year, school permitting. I’ve seen us lose to the likes of Swansea, Spurs and have a major fuck-up against Liverpool (Eboue), but one of my favourite moments of all time was seeing Thierry Henry pull the Red and White jersey back on. Henry was, and is my favourite player, I modelled my game on him (albeit poorly); I was more of a work horse midfielder than a striker, but nonetheless he is my idol. So when he did come back I was able to see him play against Blackburn Rovers and score his final goal at the Emirates, although it was classed as an own goal, I still hold in my heart that it was his.

My support of Arsenal on the whole is undying, being quite young I’ve eagerly saved money during the summer before every season and bought the Home and Away shirts. Since i’ve done that I’ve acquired an Arsenal shirt collection of 25, and growing. My favourite shirt being our latest away one; everything about it is right. Although supporting Arsenal since 2005 has been difficult, our injury luck is beyond shit and our squad depth, poor mentality and shit players have cost us majorly during that time. That being said, I have always been firmly behind Wenger (besides the Bradford loss, after that I thought he and Gervinho could fuck right off), and I do think good times are on the horizon. There is something special about this team, we have solid back four, an in-form keeper, the best midfield in the premiership and a beautiful Frenchman leading the line. To me, that sounds a little like the Arsenal of old…

Shan

Highbury Classics Volume 3 – The day when Arsenal played France

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Last week I was running a coaching session for children and put them into a small sided game. One team were given orange bibs and named Holland. The other set of bibs were coloured pink so I thought – Juventus (who else wears pink?!).

One kid noted, ‘but league teams don’t play international teams’. Fair point but then I thought; there was that time when France came to Highbury for a friendly in the 1988-89 season. The kids were fascinated to learn that this once happened, as well as being confused with one kid pointing out “But Arsenal have so many French players how does that work?”Arsenal v France

Of course in 1989 we had no Frenchmen in the squad. Our sole overseas players were Ireland’s David O’Leary and Niall Quinn. Every other player was eligible to play for England.

It’s my understanding that this game came about because France were playing Scotland in a vital World Cup qualifier and wanted some experience against a British team. From our point of view it was a game worth playing because we had no European football due to the ban on English clubs between 1985 and 1990.

That night in February 1989 Arsenal played in the yellow away kit which became immortalised a few months later with the title win at Anfield. With no away fans and the game being a friendly, the Clock End terrace was closed off, however, the North Bank made up for it with passionate vocal support. Despite being just a friendly the game did have a competitive edge to it, and beating a team like France carried plenty of kudos in our eyes. Three years earlier they had made in to the semi final of the 1986 World Cup and were one of the best teams of the 1980s; though by this point were a declining force.

From kick off it was clear that the French had better technique and moved the ball around very well. But George Graham’s team had great organisation plus an attacking edge and we won the game with two goals of quality. The first came about when Paul Merson scuffed a shot on the 20 yard line which was the opposite of quality; luckily, the ball rolled to Martin Hayes who smashed it past the great Joel Bats and into the top corner.

Later in the second half, Perry Groves made a great run down the right wing and crossed the ball into the box. Niall Quinn stretched out his long leg and with a beautiful touch softly chipped the ball over the head of the stranded Bats.

Despite being a friendly with a lower than average attendance, the goal celebrations from the players and the crowd were no different to any other game. Beating France mattered as we had no other opportunity to prove ourselves against the best overseas teams. The irony is that in recent years it’s been easier to field an Arsenal team versus England than it has against France. In the last couple of years the breakthrough of Wiltshire, Gibbs, Chamberlin and Walcott has slightly redressed the balance of English players.

Highlights of this game from 1989 can be found on youtube and I certainly recommend giving it a watch as a unique moment in Arsenal’s history. Put it this way: will we ever play France again?  

Matthew Bazell

TOS

Luis Suarez – What can Arsenal do?

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The recent comments from Liverpool owner John W Henry confirming that Luis Suarez did have a release clause in his contract for any bids over £40million has caused a lot of debate amongst Arsenal fans. It has led Wenger loyalists to hit back at journalists who labelled the £40m+£1 bid as derisory.’ It has led to people questioning the future validity of such clauses. And has even led to a #FreeSuarez petition being created on line.article-2355588-1AA7616F000005DC-687_634x416

The loudest comments have been as to why Arsenal did not force the issue, take Liverpool to court and force through a move. A lot of people see this as a simple process which would have seen Suarez be an Arsenal player as the court would have upheld the clause. But that is not the case.

In the first instance, it would have had to be Luis Suarez who would have had to taken Liverpool to court over breach of contract. The clause is in the contract between Suarez and Liverpool, therefore by not honouring the clause, Liverpool were going against Suarez. Arsenal could not have done anything legally. Liverpool had no contract with Arsenal, and therefore had no duty to sell Suarez to Arsenal based on the clause. Their duty was to allow Suarez to leave if the clause was met. Upon the clause being met and Liverpool denying this, they were breaching the agreement between themselves and Luis Suarez, not between themselves and the bidding club.

In summary, it would have been up to Luis Suarez to take Liverpool to court for breach of contract, and not Arsenal to take Liverpool to court to establish the existence of the clause.

Secondly, it can take over a year for a contract law court case to be heard. I have previously had to wait over 2 years for a court case to be heard when someone was in breach of contract with myself. In the fast moving world of football, Arsenal and Suarez would have been silly to initiate a court case which would have taken potentially 2 seasons to resolve. Arsenal would have moved on in that time, leaving Suarez in limbo.

At the time, I felt Henry was playing a very clever game, and was proved right. He knew that by denying the clause would force a court case, and it would take a while to be resolved. In that time, Arsenal would move on and they could discuss a new contract with Suarez, without a release clause, with Suarez receiving a large wage increase.

Suarez himself was also playing a clever game. Had he wanted, he could have pushed through a move to Arsenal. We saw it with Van Persie, with Anelka, with Van Hooijdonk. If a player wants to move, he can get his way. This makes me think “just how much did Luis Suarez want a move to Arsenal.” And for me, the answer was not enough. He would have been happy signing for Arsenal for £180k a week. He would have been happy signing for Real Madrid for £180k a week. And he would have been happy staying at Liverpool for £180k a week. As it turns round, his new contract with Liverpool is worth a reported £200k a week.

In a game where money is king, he got his wish. A big pay rise.

Add in loyalty bonuses, an odd concept in football, not pushing through a move has made Luis Suarez a far richer man. A loyalty bonus is a payment made by the club to the player for fulfilling their contract. It was originally designed to encourage a player to stay at a club, to not hand in a transfer request. The player receives a portion of the loyalty bonus each year of his contact. If he hands in a transfer request, and subsequently leaves, he often has to repay what he has already received in loyalty bonuses.

Likewise, if a club sells a player, without that player demanding a move, then the club will often have to pay up the remaining loyalty bonus. What now happens is the player will simply not hand in a transfer request, and force the issue through other methods, so as to not lose out on a big sum of cash. In some cases, such as with Cesc Fabregas, the club will stand firm despite a lack of transfer request, and the player will pay up. In other cases, the club will fold and pay the player what he is ‘owed’ creating a situation where a player get his loyalty bonus, despite leaving the club (Tevez reportedly got this from Manchester City.)

A final factor is the fact the Luis Suarez could not exactly strike. With him already set to miss the first 6 games of this season, he would already not be available until the end of September. His first game for Liverpool this season was September 25th, nearly a month after the transfer window shut. So what would have happened had he striked? He would have lost pay, Liverpool would have stood still, waited for the transfer window to shut, and he would have pulled on a Liverpool shirt once more on September 25th. Suarez striking to force a move would have been futile.

So why didn’t Suarez push the issue? It is probably because he did not want a move to Arsenal enough. Had it been Real Madrid? Who knows. But Arsenal was not a massive step up, it was not ‘leaving England’ like he originally claimed, and when the new contract offer with Liverpool was mooted, his head was turned.

In the short term, Henry’s stance has benefited Liverpool and damaged Arsenal. With Suarez, Arsenal would have run away with the league. Without Suarez, Liverpool would have been fighting it out with Manchester United in mid table. With the tables turned, Arsenal and Liverpool are level on points.

In the long term, Henry could have done a lot of damage to Liverpool. A lot of players around Europe will still see Liverpool as a stepping stone. A chance to prove themselves in a Premier League side before making a big money move to Chelsea, Manchester City, Real Madrid or Barcelona. Liverpool are in the ‘2nd tier’ at the moment alongside Arsenal where if one of those 4 came hunting, they would quickly become a selling club. With Henry’s stance over Suarez, things will change. Why would the next Luis Suarez want to join Liverpool if, when the time comes for him to ‘make the step up’ Liverpool disregard the clause and fail to release him.

Agents are clever people. They will not let their clients join a club with such a strict stance. Expect in future, contracts to have further clauses that dictate ‘if a minimum release clause is not acted upon once activated, my client doubles his money’. This saga will damage Liverpool in their long term recruitment plans.

As for Arsenal, the damage is short term. We dropped Jovetic when Higuain came available, then let Higuain go to Napoli when Suarez came available. We were so confident of Plan A that we let Plan B & C slip, and had no Plan D. It left us a striker short. In hindsight, we should have settled for Higuain – although I am sure people would have moaned had Higuain joined us, then Madrid signed Suarez for a similar fee.

So what could Arsenal have done in the Suarez saga? Bar encourage Suarez to force the deal, or continue to throw more money at Liverpool above the clause agreement, not much.

Arsenal’s problem is that we did not have a back up for Suarez, and that is what has cost us this season.

Keenos