Tag Archives: She Wore A Yellow Ribbon

Spurs coming up to 10 years without a trophy

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Tottenham finished above Arsenal last season. It was the first time since 1995 that they had finished above London’s most successful side. Arsenal won the FA Cup.

That FA Cup was Arsenal 3rd major domestic honour in just 4 years.

Meanwhile, Spurs have failed to win a trophy since 23/02/2008. That was the League Cup.

That is 3551 days ago.

With them having been knocked out of the League Cup this year by West Ham, that clock will soon tick around to 10 years since there last trophy.

10 YEARS

That is a bloody long time.

And yet their fans are in a boastful mood. All because they finished above Arsenal for the first time in this millennium. All because they put the pressure on Chelsea last season. All because they finished 3rd in a 2 horse race in 2015/16.

They are the media’s darlings. With their young talented Englishmen, their attacking brand of football, they approach the game in the right way. They are battling and competing against sides with much bigger finances.

In Mauricio Pochettino, they have one of the best young managers in the game. A true visionary. And in Daniel Levy a superb owner. Always gets top dollar when selling his best players. Keeping control of a tight wage bill.

But all this means for nothing if they fail to win trophies.

It is just 2 League Cups since 1991.

The majority of those boasting on social media about the power shift have only seen their side win a couple of League Cups in their lifetime.

To put that into comparison, my pals son is not yet 4 years old, and he has seen Arsenal (or at least been alive for) win 3 FA Cups.

Arsenal, a club in crisis, still winning trophies. Spurs, a side who are up their with Manchester United’s 99 team, Arsenal’s 2004, the famous Liverpool sides of the 80s, have won nothing.

There manager as well, the great Pochettino, this is his 9th season in management and he has yet to win a single trophy.

Arsene Wenger has been labelled a fraud in recent years. A declining manager. A man whose best days have been on gone. Yet he has won more trophies in the last 6 months than Pochettino has won in his managerial career.

I see Spurs fans posting up memes about Arsenal, and about Wenger. They sing about wanting Wenger to stay. They laugh at Arsenal not having won the league since 2004. They used to make silly memes about things that had happened since Arsenal last won a trophy.

Well when Spurs last won a trophy:

  • Gordon Brown was still Prime Minister
  • George W Bush was President of America
  • iPhone was on its first generation
  • Heathrow only had 4 terminals
  • Lewis Hamilton had not yet won his first world title

The best comparison I have seen someone make over the Spurs side is they are reminiscent to the Newcastle side of the mid-late 90s, and the Leeds side of the early 00s.

Between 1995/96 and 1996/97 Newcastle United finished 2nd twice, playing a brilliant brand of attacking football under Kevin Keegan. In 1997/98 they beat the mighty Barcelona at home in the Champions League, Faustino Asprilla scoring a hat trick.

Bar a couple of FA Cup semi-finals in the following years, Newcastle won nothing. Their last domestic honour was the 1954–55 FA Cup.

Following on from Newcastle was Leeds United. A brilliant young side filled with English talent.

Leeds went on a brilliant Champions League run in 2001, culminating in a Champions League semi-final appearance. They lost.

The previous year, they made the UEFA Cup semi-final. They also lost.

Both Newcastle and Leeds were relegated in the mid 00’s. They won nothing during their successful periods. Everyone loved them. The odd folk who have second teams cheered them on.

Ultimately, if you fail to win trophies, it does not really matter how many brilliant nights in the San Siro or Wembley you have. These games will just be forgotten into history.

I have laughed at the reaction to Spurs in the Champions League this season. You would think they were the first ever English team to have qualified from the group stages, or the first side to beat Real Madrid. It might seem I am coming across as bitter, but the reality is everything Spurs are currently do, I have seen Arsenal do, except for going 10 years without a trophy.

The fact is, Spurs finished above Arsenal last season, and they have the boasting rights. But history does not remember those sort of things. History will remember Arsenal finishing above Spurs 21 seasons in a row. History will remember Arsenal winning 3 FA Cups in 4 years.

History will remember Yaya Sanogo winning more trophies at Arsenal than Harry Kane has won at Spurs.

Until Spurs actually win something, they will be no more than a Leeds or a Newcastle. A side who has not win a trophy for decades, yet cling to the fallacy that they are a big, successful, club.

5 days to go till the North London derby…

Keenos

Francis Coquelin demands number 14 jersey at Arsenal

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French central midfielder Francis Coquelin has claimed first dibs on Theo Walcott’s number 14 jersey next season if the Englishman leaves the club. Coquelin believes he is the heir apparent for the shirt number made famous by club legend Thierry Henry.

ZZZZZZZZZ

That is a load of rubbish, and the headline itself probably got a load of your knickers in a twist.

I also hear that Mohamed Elneny wants to wear number the number 1 shirt in 2018/19 and Hector Bellerin wants to wear a Petr Cech style hat with his top knot sticking out.

So rumours surfaced earlier in the week that Mesut Ozil would only stay at Arsenal if he was given the number 10 shirt. This is literally a made up story for RTs and hits. As fake as my Francis Coquelin demands number 14 jersey at Arsenal headline on this blog.

Firstly, I would be surprised if Ozil signing a new contract hinges on the shirt he is going to wear.

Players are motivated by 3 things:

    1. Money
  • Success
  • Love of the club

 

Now we can get rid of number 3. Ozil is motivated by money and success. And probably more money than anything else.

I imagine Ozil would wear Joe Willock’s number 69 (wah-hey!) if we were to pay him £300k a week.

It really is a non-story. People coming out and saying Jack does not deserve to lose his jersey and others saying Jack is always injured, give it to Ozil if it means he stays.

Why does it matter what number you wear? Whether it be William Gallas in 10, Abou Diaby in 2, Or Ozil in 11. It is just a name and a number.

Bring back the days where everyone wore 1-11 without the names on the back. But the marketing and sales boys would not have this. Getting a name and number is just to generate money for the club with idiot adults who still buy club shirts with a name and number on the back.

Ozil should be playing for Arsenal because he wants to be at the club, not because of the number on the back of the shirt.

And if he really is demanding the number 10 shirt to stay, he knows where the door is.

The number on the back of the shirt is not important. The performances on the pitch are.

Keenos

Review: 89, the film

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26th May 1989, is a date firmly etched in the memory of every Arsenal fan, despite what Sky would have you believe, it’s the greatest conclusion to a football season ever witnessed. So great a night and achievement that the book and later the film Fever Pitch were written and released to critical acclaim, albeit, by an Arsenal fan Nick Hornby.

For the younger fans, the story behind what happened that evening and quite what The Arsenal achieved that night wouldn’t be realised until they were older. Those of you a few years older understood exactly the task we had that evening.

Every kid at school where I grew up (Essex), bar a couple, supported Liverpool. They were the team to beat in the 70’s and 80’s.

Leading up to the 1988-89 season Liverpool had won 5 of the last 7 championships and their 4th European cup just 4 years previous. They were an English and European powerhouse.

The Arsenal on the other hand had won just one league cup 2 years prior, back when teams fielded a strong line up and took it seriously. You had to go back 10 years for our last major trophy according to modern day football.

We were top at the end of the year and at one point in the new year held an eleven point lead over Liverpool with a game in hand, a first league title in 18 years seemed inevitable. However, a sticky period between the middle of February and April the 2nd saw us pick up just 10 points from 24.

We dropped points at QPR and Coventry, 2 draws against Millwall and Charlton, and a 3-1 defeat at Home by Forest. This meant the lead had been whittled down to 2 points by the time we drew at Home to Man U on April 2nd.

A run of 4 wins on the trot restored confidence until we pretty much chucked it away (or so we all thought) with a draw against Derby and a defeat to Wimbledon, both games at home.

Liverpool on the other hand had won 17 out of 18 in all competitions including the FA Cup final leading up to the title decider at Anfield and were undoubtably massive favourites despite the backlogged fixtures due to the Hillsborough tragedy.

That famous night has been created into a film titled 89. She wore were lucky enough to be invited to the world premiere attended by some of the players from that amazing team along with guests of Arsenal Football Club notably (in my opinion) our future captain, should he stay fit / sign a contract…..

Reflecting back on the evening it’s difficult to summarise in words as it was that memorable, but I’ll try.

It started off with a 10-15 minute Q&A with Alan Davies as the compere/host, Lee Dixon, Micky Thomas, George Graham, Amy Lawrence and Tony Adams taking questions. These ranged from emotions of that special night, the team bond to Tony Adams wanting to know what he did on the Saturday night, so if anyone can assist he’d be grateful…

The film, everything I’d hoped it would be but more. As I’ve said above it’s difficult to put into words. But there are plenty of stand out points for me.

The respect the players had for George and the confidence and belief he instilled in the team. This will no doubt be obvious to the older generation that grew up watching his teams but for the younger it will be an eye opener.

George, rightly or wrongly is often compared to Arsene Wenger.  The majority of the older generation still class him as Arsenal’s greatest manager in the modern era. You don’t have to agree with that but once you watch it you’ll realise how much of a part he played in making Arsenal great again, It might sound daft as he’s the manager and you’d expect it, but the respect the players had for him is huge. We won that title because the team believed in him and themselves and George knew…

It’s funny, very funny. It shows a side to some players not seen before, we know Merse and Perry are renown for their wit, but the so called quieter players shine too, Lukic, Smudge and Nige. The unity amongst this set of players, the camaraderie, it was a group, a real team which no one was bigger than and that’s reflected.

Tragedy, Hillsborough plays a big part as you’d imagine and there are some harrowing images, it shows the emotions of the players and expresses how difficult it was for them at the time. The film also notably pays its respects to the 96 fans that sadly lost their lives.

I could go into so much more detail on the above but I don’t want to spoil it, we all know the result and outcome but what Amy Lawrence, Lee Dixon and the rest of the production team have produced is excellent. It’s also dedicated to Rocky, whose family were present, a wonderful touch. A truly magical film. Congratulations to all that were involved.

89 will be released on November 20th 2017. Pre-order today.

Cros