So Paddy is staying afterall. I believe the majority of Arsenal fans would share a mix reaction to his staying - we would all (or most of us) love to have him staying (as Stag put it, I too got no complain to have the world’s BEST midfielder staying with our club); yet at the same time we feel being let down by his half heart loyality towards the club we love.
Either way, the FACT that he’s staying, in my opinion, will go on to prove as a significant turning point of Arsenal’s short term, most importantly, long term future.
As I stated previously: I firmly believe Arsenal are on the way to achieve true GREATNESS in the manner of Ajax of 70s or Liverpool of 70s, 80s, by not only winning trophies, but also stamping a signature of an unique brand of football being invented by manager Arsene Wenger. Ajax had their famous “Total Football” in the 70s which swept the world football by storm. Arsenal, under Wenger, will go on to create a “Power Football” (the words chosen by Myles Palmer, author of “The Professor”) which based on pace, power, one-touch passing, and collective movement. Look at the way we played since the 2002 “double” season, I haven’t seen anything like this from any side, not Real Madrid, not Brazil, not France. The closest thing I saw was Brazil’s “Samba Football” of the 80s, but then, they were playing in a snail pace. To play in such a breath-taking pace, yet still be able to pass the ball so well, it’s only Arsenal.
We have got everything in place: a state-of-art new stadium will be ready by 2006, which will significantly upgraded our financial power to counter the rich clubs such as Man Utd, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Juventus. A well-balanced, young, talented starting XI who play with flair as well as an English grit and team spirit - a combination you can’t find it in too many teams. And a new wave of promising youngsters are starting to emerge to the scene. It shows every sign of a great team in the making.
Nevertheless, had Patrick Vieira, our captain, our key player, got tempted away by Real Madrid, the whole picture would change inevitably. Because it would mean we get defeated by “money power”. Real Madrid’s president Perez has made it as a personal mission to buy one superstar per season, as he had promised to the fans. But how many “superstars” in the world football today? English Premiership, if it isn’t the best football league in the world, it’s definitely the most popular league worldwide. And that means players who play in the Premeirship would be drawing more media attention than anywhere else but the Series A and La Liga. Had Vieira left for Real Madrid, inevitably you would be thinking who’s next? Thierry Henry? Jose A. Reyes? Sol Campbell? Ashley Cole?… It’s quite impossible for a club to be a selling club (let’s face it, if we have to sell Vieira, be it whatever reasons, it still make us a selling club - a club has no power to keep hold of its best players) yet at the same time trying to be a GREAT side.
To be able to keep Vieira, no matter what was the reason behind it, it’s a crucial victory for Arsenal Football Club already even before a ball being kicked in the new season. Because it allows us to continue build from strength to strength from the current wonderful Arsenal side. Of course, I am not naive enough to believe Paddy will be staying with us forever. But at least it allows us time to look for a proper replacement, rather than the panic signing the media had been suggested. Even if this is going to be Paddy’s last season with us, still, it would make a big difference.
One Response to “Vieira’s staying has won Arsenal a crucial victory”
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August 14th, 2004 at 9:42 am
Great article, Andez, as usual.
I cannot understand how a Madrid fan or Chelsa fan can look themselves in the eye and be 100% proud of their team. Its like taking one’s support away from, say, the 76ers and throwing it to the Globetrotters or the Olympic dream team. This manufactured buy-out policy would surely kill the game, and has already squeezed the life out of the transfer window to a large extent.
I could see a team like Leeds attracting a buyer and then forming a club to pull them out of financial ruin, but if a club can only contend because it has a billionaire in its pocket…well, that’s sad. Chelsea and Real fans don’t have a choice. If the same thing happened to us, we’d take the wins and the players, too. But what’s going on there would surely tarnish the patina of any trophies they will hold aloft. I just hope they remove the price tag from them before they do.
The Arsenal is, like you say, a progenitor of a winning football style. Arsene will be spoken of in the same glowing terms as the teams and coaches you mentioned. But what legacy will be left behind by these dream teams? An asterix on them all, I suspect.
Yes, Vieira staying, for whatever reason, takes the power away from the dollar and gives it back to the one team that is contributing to the game as much as they are rewarded by it. They don’t make T-shirts that say that, but maybe they should.