From Tarush : I don’t understand you
So you say “Since 2004, Arsenal declined. Why? Because it’s impossible to build a stadium and have a winning team as well.”
Still you slate Wenger.
So what did you want? Arsenal to continue at Highbury, get overshadowed by big clubs always, never compete with Barcelona and the like ?
I am sure you have started hating French players more than since the Ireland episode. Get over it man. It was a handball . Simple. Ireland maybe didn’t deserver to go through.
We all know Arsenal is rebuilding till stadium debt is over. No one is disillusioned over this. So you cannot have sweets in both hands. New stadium and trophies together. You can call Wenger an idiot but he is the only manager who could have built a stadium and still kept a club in Europe Elite.
Yes, I am an Indian and I live in India and I don’t pay season ticket money. But I watch my beloved Arsenal every weekend past midnight. I read every blog I can. I burn my blood when we concede late, I smash my table when Diaby does not chase. But still I love Arsenal
Tarush
Bangalore, India
Myles replies :
I’ve been worried about your table for two days now. I’m concerned. But I’ve figured out the answer : When Diaby is playing, put the table in the other room.
Actually, I don’t hate French players, just have doubts about a lot of them. But I have doubts about players of every nationality.
From Steve Phillips: Really enjoyed Danny’s letter
He addressed many of the things that we are actually discussing in an eloquent and thoughtful style, and that’s what we need more of in cyberspace.
Good for Danny, and good for you posting these missives, Myles.
Our problem as intelligent people is that we do not like to be bored, and fourth place mediocrity and pass, pass, pass is boring us.
So is the mediocrity of watching players like Eboue rolling about on the grass when we know we could be watching young Jacky try it on, which we find more entertaining than all this bland passing without dangerous (and exciting!) penetration.
If Torres doesn’t wake up soon or Hodgson buys a couple of strikers, Liverpool are in the middle of the table. Torres looks like a guy who’s handed in a transfer request and is trying to convince the manager to comply – or else he’s got one those protracted niggly injuries (a la Tomas Rosicky) and needs a BIG rest. either way, Roy needs to find a way to work around it. Another major striker is required.
Sir Mick went to the London School of Economics. I’ll bet he’s a sharp manager! A lot of those “rock stars” with long careers are. It would be interesting to see how he’d make out at the helm of a football team. He’d do pretty well, I’ll wager.
Love
Steve in Vancouver
Myles replies :
I fear for Liverpool in Turkey tonight. They need a left back, not 14 more games in the Europa Cup where they will pick up more injuries.
For me it’s bit weird to have a CL draw today without Liverpool. Three London clubs in the 32. And no London club has ever won it. And the final is at Wembley next year.
I had an interview at the LSE and they said I could come if I got two 60s. I got a 70 and a 55 and went to Manchester. The LSE would have been wrong for me anyway, totally wrong. I wouldn’t have met Mick there because he’s a year older and had already dropped out while I was at Alleynes Grammar School, Stevenage.
Versatile man but Mick Jagger wouldn’t cut it as a football manager. Neither would I. Too emotional.
From Deji Francis
Myles, hello from Lagos.
I thoroughly enjoyed this letter. It can only come from an Arsenal supporter.
I have always maintained that we are the club of the educated classes.You have quite a large readership,but as usual it is quite evenly divided amongst those who heartily agree with you and some of us who loathe your existence (but cannot do without our daily fix of your blog).
Also love your stories about the record industry. Maybe, even more so.
Do you know that Ginger Baker used to live in Lagos? In fact he was my neighbour and I used to run little errands for him, buying him cigarettes and such. But, goodness, you never saw him without a bevy of girls.
Of course, my father frowned at this, especially since he was always with Fela Kuti, who was then a pariah among the Nigerian wealthy classes who saw him as a corruptor of their English public school-educated children. No middle class family would have his music in their home, despite Fela himself being of a solidly middle class stock. I think he attended the Royal Institute of Music. His older brother, a professor of Medicine, went to Cambridge University medical college and the younger one studied medicine at Manchester University. If I can recall, I think Paul McCartney and the Wings came on tour as well.
Lagos was quite a hip place in the 70s and our taste in music was quite varied. I grew up listening to Cream, Joe Cocker (very popular), Albert King, Grand Funk Railroad, Roy Buchanan,Stones, Black Sabbath, Son House etc and the usual mix of American r&b. All the young boys aspired to be a Hendrix or Santana.
Myles, please keep up the good work.
Do not let the bastards get you down. You are a ray of light in our humdrum existence here in Lagos.
Myles replies:
Thanks for that, Deji.
Lovely to hear about Lagos from Ginger’s go-fer.
Not sure about Santana. Carlos puts good bands together but he can’t play the guitar.
When Blind Faith made their debut with a free concert in Hyde Park, rock music still belonged to the audience, not the marketing men. Eric Clapton had watched a Traffic free concert there and used to jam with the Spencer Davis Group at the Marquee, so he knew Stevie Winwood very well. My friend Jeff Dexter told me this. Jeff spent a week with the group before the gig, rehearsing, and had been in the studio with them. Jeff, a DJ and promoter, took them from Robert Stigwood’s office in Mayfair to the stage via a rear entrance to Hyde Park.
Blind Faith was Eric, Stevie, Rick Gretch on bass, and Ginger. Ginger did a 12-minute drum solo that was thunderously musical and awesome. He got two standing ovations during the drum solo and a third standing ovation at the end of that solo. Blind Faith has balls as well as soul.Their gig, along with the electrifying Richie Havens, was the most powerful and thrilling music I heard outdoors till I saw Little Feat at Charlton about six years later.
We all thought Blind Faith would sound more like Cream because it had Eric and Ginger but Stevie Winwood was such a heavy singer-musician-composer that the new group sounded more like Traffic.
Record bosses were rightly dubious about the quality of music that might be produced by “supergroups”. But I heard that Ahmet Ertegun said, “If I’d known how good the album was going to be, I’d have given them more time to finish it.”
Ginger was born in Neasden, a mile from Willesden, where we live. Twiggy also comes from there. I’ve met Twiggy but not Ginger. She was gorgeous in every way : sparky,friendly and funny.
Interviewed Joe Cocker twice, a really lovely man and more droll than you would imagine. A great geezer. First interview, I over-recorded the tape deliberately after I wrote up the story. I later regretted that. After that blunder, I never over-recorded any of my interviews. Kept them all.
From Noel Slattery : Never mind the stick, Myles
Hi Myles,
You’re taking a bit of stick these days but I have to agree with you.
We both know Almunia and Fabianski especially will let us down at some stage this season but will still get unconditional support from Mr. Wenger.
We also know Clichy will make more defensive mistakes and Diaby will still be mentally lost in every 3 out of 5 games and that Denilson is a Portuguese league player and Bendtner is just not good enough.
We also know that Mr.Wenger will back these players and I know why. He cannot control big name players. He does not like the confrontations with them.
It undermines his perfect world which he has created and dominates at Arsenal.
So keep up the healthy analysis and when I fly over from Ireland, stay in a hotel and buy an expensive Emirates ticket I’ll also feel justified to speak my mind if I do not see the commitment on the pitch or logical managerial decisions.We fans now must expect that Mr. Wenger starts respecting us,
Slainte,
Noel
Myles replies :
Yes, he has built utopia at Colney behind a 14-foot fence with remote-controlled gates. He’s built himself a place to work and allowed the construction of another place to show us his work. That is unique, as we all know. No other coach in history could have done that. He’s a genius, a polymath and a workaholic control-freak.
Ashley Cole and Gary Lewin could not stand utopia,so they left.
From Scott : Grumpy Old Men
Dear Myles,
Firstly, ‘thank you’ for continuing to write about the club that so many of us continue to support despite feeling like the neglected partner in a dysfunctional marriage.
As I have followed your musings for a number of years now, your own changing feelings about Arsenal have clearly evolved in line with the way the club has been run and so has your style of writing. While some people call for you to be less depressing (read ‘honest’) in your outlook, I for one applaud your lack of red-tinted spectacles, as you present a strong combination of fact and opinion about this stalwart club.
It did finally occur to me, however, whom your own relationship to Arsenal reminded me of – the incomparable odd couple Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in Grumpy Old Men.
Despite the daily grumblings and regular, scripted beatings of our historic club there is, somewhere deep inside of you, a desire to see our beleaguered manager succeed. I just hope you keep writing long enough for us to both celebrate the successes, even if you do hide a few journalistic dead fish along with your congratulatory remarks.
Totally unrelated, and back to matters of how we play the beautiful game… I’m a UK native and lived there into my mid-thirties until I emigrated to the States a few years back. As I look at the way American football is run I’ve come to really appreciate the way the coaching team is set up to have specialists in different disciplines of the sport – they will have an offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator, all supporting the head coach who is responsible for the overall way the team plays.
Admittedly they literally have different teams of players who take to the field for each of these situations which lends itself to having speciality coaches (unlike the soccer player who has to do it all), but it seems that some kind of hybrid approach to coaching in the UK could be developed. While I never see it working under Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, I’m interested to see if you think that the idea of specialist coaches could work in the world of soccer?
Keep grumping!
Scott
Myles replies :
There are goalkeeping coaches and defensive coaches but football is mostly fluid or continuous, or tries to be, so you attack as a team and defend as a team, and try not to get split. I don’t know a lot about the NFL, or even the NBA, although I like basketball.
I wish Neil Simon or Billy Wilder wrote my scripts. ANR would be much more entertaining.
This manager is not so beleaguered. Having inked a new contract till 2014, he can sign up the whole French Under-21 team and still be within the new regulations. He can do what the hell he likes for the next four years because 3rd or 4th is OK for Stan Kroenke, who is 4,000 miles away.
Arsene wouldn’t compare us to Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.
When I went to Barnet and saw Arsenal Reserves 0 Portsmouth Reserves 2, I forgot that he would be there. How dumb is that?
It could have been awkward, given what I’ve written here in the last four years.
I realised that I had to choose between nodding, shaking his hand, or not seeing him.
At half-time I went up the first floor lounge which overlooks the pitch, where you have refreshments, and sat at a circular table with my back to the door, and had a cup of tea with Mark Jacob. I was facing Pat Rice on the next table, with Giles Grimandi and his pals standing on the other side of the room on my right. I met Gilles once. It was like talking to a student, rather than a footballer.
When I got up to go out for the second half, Arsene was sitting behind me, talking on his mobile. We did not see each other. We are two old pros who knew how to not see each other. It could have been embarrassing for both of us. But it wasn’t.
From Tomiwa : Re : ANR from Danny : The Whole Issue
Myles,
What yardstick exactly do you use when defining Arsene as a loser?
If I read Danny’s letter right, then I believe I noticed him outlining the fact that we have no right to expect to win trophies when our expenditure in terms of transfers is nowhere near what the more successful teams in modern football spend, no?
If Arsene were such a loser, then why isn’t Arsenal being mentioned in the same breath with the Tottenham Hotspurs and Evertons et al (who we actually compete with in terms of transfer spending!) in football, and instead we’re still regarded as European giants (I stand to be corrected…) all over the world.
I am sending this mail from Nigeria where predominantly club support and success is based on how many trophies are won by said club in a particular season.
Of course, there’s a huge number of Chelsea, Manchester United and Barcelona fans this side of the equator.
Really a fickle set of fans, I regrettably admit, and of course, being an Arsenal fan is like giving yourself up to be locked up in the infamous Guatanamo Bay prison every weekend and at season’s end, at least for the part 4 seasons! (without the physical beating and torture…).
I remember you writing once that Arsene is a victim of his own success.
Arsenal was never a truly great club until this visionary came and turned us into what we are today.
So it still surprises me when my friends (all of whom I introduced to ANR) come to meet me and say “Myles has started again ! See his post this morning”, disheartingly. Because of another one of the negative views on Arsene’s reign you put up on ANR.
Hope I made a little sense and I’m sorry if it’s a little bit jumbled (sending it from my phone).
Thank you for ANR, and for remaining the refreshingly honest and straightforward writer (and person, I believe) that you are.
Sincerely…
Myles replies:
I try to be honest and straightforward but I make many mistakes and misjudgements, always have.
Using the word ” loser ” in that context was a tired, flippant, throwaway line at the end of the piece. Sometimes a weary writer wants to finish a piece more than he wants to get it right.
I’ve become known across the blogosphere as Wenger’s biggest critic. I’m not proud of that. I’m NOT proud of that. I’m really not proud of that.
But I’m here to tell you what I think.
If I don’t tell you what I think, I’m wasting my time and cheating every ANR reader.