By Myles Palmer
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KEEGAN resigned as Man City manager on Friday and I thought that might reduce the Arsenal post-mortems in the Sunday papers.
No such luck.
Haven’t read all of them, just Ian Ridley, who knows what he is talking about.
A re-vamp will be a big theme now.
The Wenger re-vamp will be a big topic till July.
What will the manager do?
Who will he sell?
Who will he buy?
I’m more interested in a bigger question : Will Arsene re-examine his ideas?
Will he adapt his ideas?
Will he get Steve Bould to drill the defence?
Will he always be obsessed by pace and attacking at pace and creating one kind of goal, the one-on-one-with-the-keeper goal?
Will he sign a striker who wants to play in the box?
At present, only Freddie wants to play in the box.
That is because Arsene’s style is so specific, so specialised, so rarified, that he only wants his goalscorer in the box for a split-second, just before scoring the goal.
In a team that only attacks and creates on the left, Freddie runs in from the right.
It’s unique style, it’s won six trophies, but it’s been rumbled now and it will not win the European Cup anytime in the next 50 years.
That has been obvious since March 12, 2002, when Deportivo won 2-0 at Highbury and the game was over in 30 minutes.
That has been abundantly clear.
It has been written on the wall of the stadium in 20 foot neon letters since March 2002.
So the $64,000 question now isn’t : Who will he buy ?
It is : can he ignore the elephant in the room?
Can he ignore the elephant in the room for a fourth year in a row ?
For the last three years I have looked for signs that Arsene is changing his ideas.
I haven’t seen any.
By his own admission, Arsene is a stubborn man.
WE KNOW THAT football is a game of running, but for Arsene it is a game of sprinting.
I heard that he turned down the two Forest boys, Dawson and Reid, who went to Spurs, because neither has explosive pace.
Fair enough, but does John Terry have explosive pace ?
Arsene might re-vamp his team while keeping the same ideas.
He could sign players who fit his existing style of play.
He could sign players who do the same things better.
That is what he did when he had to choose between Reyes and Jermain Defoe and chose Reyes.
THE OBSERVER headline on Ian Ridley’s piece is:
Is Wenger the man to rebuild Arsenal?
Ridley writes : “Belts have been tightened during several years of financing the £350m Emirates Stadium. Now the board have indicated that there will be a war chest this summer, possibly containing £40m. Before they hand it to Wenger, they could well go through a bout of soul-searching.
“Arsenal do not like sacking managers, having had only 11 in 60 years. It sounds astonishing that they might even think beyond Wenger after nine seasons of unprecedented domestic success, which have brought three titles and three FA Cups, including two Doubles. This year, for the first time under Wenger, they might finish below the top two.”
He says that AW finds himself in a similar situation to where Sir Alex was eight years ago.
The Cantona team was past its best, so Fergie rebuilt and won the treble in 1999.
PERSONALLY, I think the French players are far too powerful at Arsenal.
And Arsene pampers his players too much.
Indeed, he is in awe of them. He only shouts at them twice a year.
Lippi got to three European Cup Finals with Juventus, losing two.
One of Lippi’s best lines was, “Every summer I sell two or three millionaires, just to keep the others interested.”
Arsene would never say that.
He’d say : I want Ashley to stay at Arsenal and become captain of the club one day.
Arsene believes in stability, harmony and continuity.
He thinks that if you change more than three players in a summer you take a technical risk.
Ian Ridley never mentions the “comfort zone” .
But he writes, “The feeling is that it has become too cosy within the club. Certain players are assured of their role, too fond of the manager and his benevolent, paternal treatment. At times Wenger appears too passive off the field and in making changes on it. Feathers have not been, but need to be, ruffled. If the board aren’t thinking the unthinkable, Wenger himself should be over the next few months.”
Landmark piece, make sure you read it.
SPURS were robbed at Newcastle, where Kluivert scored the only goal early on.
Nothing wrong with Robbie Keane’s equaliser, smashed in from close range off Shay Given’s face.
But ref Rob Styles disallowed it.
SATURDAY we wanted to go for a walk but never made it because we spent all day reading papers and watching football on TV.
Sunday we go for a walk down Whitehall, past Downing Street, and stop to see the changing of the guard.
The horses know they are in the army, so they stand there calmly as kids pat them on the neck, hour after hour after hour.
In Trafalgar Square there is a stage and 15,000 punters.Green water is spurting from the fountains. Not everyone is wearing face-paint but many girls have shamrocks on their cheeks.
Compere Dara O’Briain says, “We’d like to thank the parish priest for the use of the hall.”
He says, “I don’t believe in God, but I’m still a Catholic. You can’t drop out of this religion. You can’t go online and de-register from being a Catholic. I could be in a cave in Afghanistan and they’d still say : he’s a bad Catholic.He’s one of us.”
He introduces the Saw Doctors and a huge roar goes up, as if Elvis Presley was coming on.
The fans rock through I Useta Love Her and N17 and sway along to Green & Red of Mayo, Clare Island, and a bunch of other songs, for a jolly, invigorating hour.
These boys are still festive, funny, tuneful, a tonic, a rootsy, rocking bundle of fun.
Singer Davy is a real working class hero and songwriter Leo has the boisterous charm that you need to lead a group like this.
And the Doctors still have the best audience in UK.
Nelson stands high on his Column watching the big jets float gently down towards Heathrow and King George IV sits behind us on a handsome steed, his brow streaked with white pigeon shit.
We walk quickly back to Westminster tube and I tell Jan that in the 30 years since The Faces the only other groups I’ve seen with really infectious stage personalities are Crowded House and the Barenaked Ladies.
Leo is a Chelsea supporter.
But the last time I talked to Leo, Ruud Gullit was the manager.
March 13th 2005.