What's Happening at Arsenal?

As a Manchester United fan I can't help look at what is going on with Arsenal and think what has happened?  Just 10 years ago this summer, Arsene Wenger was gearing his side up to go a full league season unbeaten, now there is an air of uncertainty over his future and the club looks at times to be in complete disarray.

Part of me is relieved at this, as it has removed a potential challenger to the throne of Premier League champions leaving us only to deal with our noisy neighbours. But part of me sympathises and misses the intense rivalry that a fixture against the Gunners would bring.

In 2006 they were Champions League finalists and known throughout Europe as being one to avoid in the draw. Their slick style of football used to tear defences to shreds and they were spearheaded by arguably the greatest striker to play in the modern day Premiership, Thierry Henry.

Now they are being made to look like rank amateurs by a team that in all honesty are a great side but perennial underachievers. There is a growing unrest with the supporters and some are even calling for the once untouchable Arsene Wenger to be sacked.

But this is the problem with modern football. Everyone has an opinion but very few are grateful for what they have. When the now legendary Sir Alex Ferguson first took the hot seat at Old Trafford, things started grimly  and after 3 years unrest grew among supporters who were fed up of watching their bitter rivals Liverpool win everything.

His head was called for and at one game a banner was unfurled at Old Trafford saying "Three years of excuses and it's still crap...ta-ra Fergie.". Yet the United board, to their credit decided to back the man they brought in from Aberdeen and now they can look back with pride at their decision.

In Wenger's case he messed things up from day one by having an immediate and highly successful impact on a club that up until that point had been labelled boring and had gone 6 seasons without even competing for a league title. Admittedly they enjoyed domestic cup successes in 1993 and captured the Cup Winners Cup in 1994 but lets face it for a club of Arsenal's stature if they are not competing in the league then they are underachieving.

The point I am trying to make is Wenger didn't have the slow and fruitless start to his Arsenal reign that Ferguson did at United. He gave the fans what they wanted there and then and then continued to sustain it with top 2 finishes for the following seasons before building a team that couldn't be beaten in the 2003/04 season.

Fast forward to now and he is facing an eighth season without a trophy. Is it time to sack Wenger? Well I would argue no. Things have changed behind the scenes at Arsenal drastically. David Dein who continually backed Wenger throughout the glory years is no longer there and now they have the same frustrating thing as Liverpool and so many other clubs have had, an American on their board.

Financially he has had money to spend but only on the basis he cashes in on his prize assets first to make room. It is evident that Wenger was in the process of building another invincible team but for this policy. Had he been able to hold on to his talent his team could well have looked like this Szczęsny, Clichy, Vermaelen,Sagna, Fabregas, Wilshere, Song, Walcott, Cazorla, Van Persie and Podolski with Diaby et al in reserve. The majority of these players have now moved on or are rotting in a squad that is consistently having to be reinforced by youth instead of the top talent thanks to the boards restrictions on what Wenger can do in the market.

Now the board are promising fresh cash to spend in the summer. Anyone who suggests Wenger is not the man to spend it should remember that over the years he has signed Viera, Henry, Anelka, Overmars, Petit, Van Persie, Walcott, Fabregas and the rest. Who's to say that now he finally has the financial backing of his board without having to sell his best players, that Wenger can't rebuild and go again. 

So now is the time to go out there and get behind the manager who gave you endless success through the latter part of the 90's and early 00's instead of booing him. Repay the manager for all he has done in the past and give him next season to reward you for your loyalty. If he flops next season, then enough should surely be enough.

The Fall of England's Greatest

Over the past couple of days/weeks/months/years it has been pointed out to me more and more that I like to talk, share my opinions and have a good rant about everything that is anything. So much more so that I have taken it upon myself to put my thoughts down into words and start a blog.

With that said it was strange then that I found it difficult to come up with my first topic when it came to starting to actually write my blog. There is plenty going on in the world at the moment, what with Richard III being found in a car park in Leicestershire and Peter Odemwingie refusing to leave a car park in West London last week and all that is going on in the fight to allow equal marriage.

But I guess the thing that really caught my eye this week and really provoked my thoughts was the re-emergence of everyone's favourite football hero Paul Gascoigne.

Less than a week on from one of our other national treasures announcing that he would be donating his undoubtedly over generous salary to a children's charity, Gascoigne or 'Gazza' as he is affectionately known to the nation has reared his head once more in his never-ending battle with the booze.

Now before I get started here don't get me wrong I sympathise greatly with the guy when it comes to his deterioration. I remember growing up as a youngster and watching this incredibly gifted, bleach blonde haired genius score, what is to me one of my favourite England goals, behind a last minute free kick scored by the previously alluded to David Beckham, to secure a memorable win against the Scots at Euro 96.

Gazza had everything as a player, style, skill, a deadly eye for goal and an undeniable passion to represent his country at the sport he loved. The comparison with the late great George Best is uncanny, although for me Best is still the greatest player to have lived (If Pele says that then who are we to argue).

It's just a shame that this comparison continues further than just with his on pitch playing ability because for all the wonderful memories of great goals and match winning performances, I also remember watching Gascoigne throw it all away. And  what for? The premature and perhaps unfair end to his England career? For people to consistently use this as an excuse for what proceeded Glenn Hoddle's decision to leave him out of the squad for the World Cup in 1998, should try taking a look at someone like Rio Ferdinand.

Here we have a player who's only obvious crime to cost him his place as a regular international was the temerity to be the brother of the man racially abused by the seemingly in-disposable former England captain John Terry.

Yet Ferdinand has dealt with it, not by going off the rails, or hitting the local bars to drown his sorrows. He has stayed with his club and continued to produce exemplary performances at the very height of English football and has had to deal with some tough injury lay offs on the way. 

What is the difference? Most people will say that it is that he made the decision to join Manchester United when given the chance whereas Gazza passed that up, and therefore benefited from the leadership of Sir Alex Ferguson. But in truth that is only, if, buts or maybes.

The true difference is 'will'. Ferdinand, don't forget, was also banned for missing a drugs test for a lengthy 8 month period where it would have been easy for him to turn to the drink but again during a difficult time in his career he had the will to stay focused on what was important.

Paul Gascoigne sadly doesn't have that. He has the support of the whole nation, which Ferdinand doesn't, yet he still doesn't have the will to stay clean and sort his life out.

Now he has been bailed out by his old friend Chris Evans and a few others, most notably Ronnie Irani, Gary Lineker and Piers Morgan. Make no mistake about it these men obviously care for the man they can call a friend but surely their companionship and closeness could help him far more than sending him to the US for more rehab.

The best quote to sum up the situation with Gazza came through Gordon Taylor, Chief Executive of the Professional Footballers Association, when he was questioned by former footballer Peter Schmeichel over stepping in and helping the lost superstar.

His response was: "There isn't a player we've done more for over my time at the PFA. In fact, we've been criticised for doing as much as we have, because he has not made the improvements that some of our other members have."

That is the hard-line fact there for those who argue that this man wants to be helped. If he truly wanted it, he would have accepted it on one of the countless times he was offered it and not wasted time that could have been spent on others who needed it.

Now we are told to pray for Gazza, and we have to listen once more to those who are helping him such as Piers Morgan preach through Twitter that we should sympathise with him and get behind him when in reality our sympathy and support can be directed to far more worthwhile people in the world who suffer from terminal illnesses such as cancer, leukaemia and heart disease to name but a few, and who are not lucky enough to have their futures in their own hands.

In my case for instance I have over the past year and a half lost people close to me through the effects of a stroke and heart disease and most recently cancer. I would much rather spend my time reading about money, enthusiasm and time being spent helping people who are battling to overcome these illnesses than read about a former footballer, turned wife beater not battle alcoholism.

For me it is an insult to call alcoholism a disease. I read a far more accurate description in a tweet that summed it up perfectly when it said that it wasn't a condition you wake up with one day like cancer or heart disease. It is a dependency that grows through exposure to excess over an extended period of time.

Although I may not appreciate it as a disease, I do however appreciate the seriousness of its nature and I know of people who have both beaten it and let it beat them. There is one thing that separated those people and it is Will.

Gazza is a man who has children and a young 7 year old nephew who has in recent times signed to his beloved Newcastle United. If that can't give him purpose or motivation  to sort out his life, it doesn't matter how much money his big earning, showbiz friends throw at him. He will lose his battle and the world will look back and remember Gazza for less than what he truly was, and that was possibly the most gifted English footballer of all time.