Reply With QuoteNice 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.
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.
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.
Probably not as if was then to leave he would be doing so on a huge positive and high. Thing is we won’t win the League so it is a moot point.
My original statement is based on many discussions we will have had. While they were magnificent days few people immediately remember the almost unprecedented glory days of 98-2004 as they are in the past and largely speaking all the matters in football is the current. Last weekend’s result, this weekend’s result, basically this season.
He was a great manager, no argument whatsoever but his time at Arsenal has turned sour in recent seasons as is obvious by unforeseen levels of fan unrest.
Not entirely sure about the 10 year comment either. He was new, he was different, he was our manager so we loved him. The line about the prettiest wife etc. Was he really better than Ferguson as an obvious example?
Last edited by SWv2; 09-22-2016 at 08:34 AM.
Harsh, I rather think his 2nd 10 years were actually better considering how the whole game changed around us (through no fault of AW) and he still has managed to keep us right up at the top. Dread to think what would have happened and where we'd be if he hadn't been Le Boss
The achievements of the second half of his tenure, keeping us successful enough to keep the stadium full and the champions league money rolling in whilst having to make a profit on player sales, is probably even greater than the trophy-winning days.
The man should be treated like a God by anyone with any feeling for this club.
There's actually a typo in the first caption of that piece
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