Nice piece, I thought. Will probably buy her book, even though it's just a picture volume. At least they got a decent writer to pen the captions.Originally Posted by Lady Henry AKA The African Queen
Bloody good manager too, imo.
Amy is a trooper, love her analyses. Ironically, we have an Amy Lawrence here that has a nighttime sports talk show that I like to listen too.
Amy Lawrence is a Gooner. That's no secret. And an admirer of Arsene's.
I love the man. He gave me a joy in watching the Arsenal which I'd never really had. I enjoyed it when we won but our football was rarely that good.
Circumstances defeated him, as Amy more or less details. The new stadium and the arrival of the oligarchs had unfrtunate timings and rather than challenge Manu for the no. 1 spot we ended up celebrating the fourth place trophies. Desperate bad luck with injuries probably cost us two league titles during the barren patch.
However he is partly responsible for the cross he now bears. In refusing to change his vision and his teams' style we ended up with talentead teams who struggled to compete physically which led to the occasional mauling and was no dount partly responsible for our wretched injuries.
It is sad to see a giant, as he was for the first half of his reign, reduced like Gulliver to being baited by Lilliputians such as the black scarf ****s. For his sake he should have gone several years ago. The Kronke model of ownership means we cannot in the long term compete with more ambitious owners.
It would be great for him to have one last hurrah - another league title at least or (looks very unlikely) a Champions League. The outcome is likelier to be a season where we win nothing or maybe a domestic cup and he either leaves in the summer or (if we win something) is offered an extension to growing choruses of disapproval and a poisonous atmosphere until he either wins something big or is finally persuaded to step aside after a couple of barren seasons.
A tainted legacy I am afraid.
And if we win the league this year, will it still be tainted?
Arguably the best manager in the world for his first 10 years or so with the club, after that a lesson in the 'too much power in one person's hands is a bad thing' rule.
What about Leicester City?
"Plenty of strikers can score goals," he said, gesturing to the famous old stands casting shadows around us.
"But a lot have found it difficult wearing the number 9 shirt for The Arsenal."
Leicester City could be seen as a blot on the copybook of every manager in the Premier League so as such we prefer to simply ignore them and let them return quietly to whence they came.
There's actually a typo in the first caption of that piece
Ultimately a career filled with what ifs. Even with the Invincibles, one of if not the best team ever to play in England, we only won 1 premier league title. We should have dominated European football for atleast 2-3 years. Then the last 10 years or so, that final in Paris, league cup defeats against Chelsea and Birmingham *shudders*.
That said, he has given us incredible moments. Not necessarily trophy wins, but still moments which never fail to make me smile when I think about them. Arshavin vs Barca, Welbeck vs Leicester, Thierry vs Man Utd.
I want him to leave and have done for some time now, but I can never bring myself to abuse the man. After the things he's done for Arsenal, despite all his shortcomings, he deserves better than to be called a ****.
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