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Football: Crap Before Wenger
After reading some of the debate about Arsene Wenger's legacy on English football, I have to say his true achievement hasn't been properly highlighted.
Arsene Wenger has changed English football completely, and before him the quality of football was crap. Teams like Wimbledon thrived in the Premier league, and English football was considered a joke amongst our European cousins. Before Wenger, there was never any chance of any English-based player ever being consider the best in the world even by people in England, let alone anywhere else. Arsene Wenger opened the world market up to English teams, introducing the likes of Vieira, Anelka, Henry into his teams and giving the likes of Ferguson the impetus to buy players like Stam, Van Nistlerooy, and Ronaldo, instead of the second rate Scandinavians that previously filled our teams.
Arsene Wenger hasn't always bought teenagers, the likes of Petit, Pires, Overmars, and Wiltord can testify to that, this has been a recent development due to the ongoing cost of building a new stadium. A project that might I add has brought Arsenal in line with the world's top-earning teams, and completely funded by Wengers remarkable ability to keep his team competitive on the cheap. So AW youth development has been a necessity and not a tactical decision. His career can't be defined solely as a nurturer of talent but somebody who has raised the technical and physical level of the game in England.
This is where I get controversial Man Utd fans, in my opinion, without Wenger, Ferguson would have retired four or five years ago after winning seven straight Premier League titles, no European Cups, and left English football in a similar state as Scottish - predictable and second rate! Yes United fans, Ferguson is a true managerial heavyweight, but before Wenger he was fighting lightweights like Big Ron, Howard Wilkinson, Roy Evans, and Gerry Francis, managers whose styles came from the footballing dark ages and have been resigned to the scrap heap by the introduction of Wenger. Let's not forget Ferguson's own appointment of Carlos Queieroz was because he felt he was being left behind by new techniques, an enviable admission by such a proud football man.
In my biased opinion, without Wenger, there would be no multi-billion pound TV deals, no Henry, no Ronaldo, no Abramovich, no Mourinho, no Benitez, no Torres, no Scolari, in fact no top foreign involvement at all, apart from annual battle of the modern equivalents of John Jensen and countless other completely forgetable Scandinavians of yesteryear.
And if that doesn't convince you, let's just remember how uncompetive the England team has been in the last 12 years, and the ongoing debate on how the man himself, Arsene Wenger has ruined English football by not waving his magic wand in the direction of young Englishmen. A man who has received the brunt of the blame because it is his team that highlights England technical and intellectual deficances like no other. Jack Wilshire, by the way, is a 16 years old, who has just been given Gilberto's 19 shirt and will be Wenger's gift to England and answer to his critics.
This is not just about whether you like Wenger or not, or even about football before 1996 but about the direction it was taking at the time, and in that respect he definitely revolutionised English football, and anyone who remembers pre-Wenger football in this country must find it impossible to disagree with or Arsenal/ Arsene Wenger hater. Arsene Wenger is not perfect but you can't take away his impact on football in this country as pre 1997 premeir league football was mid-quality and staying that way.
John (if you don't believe me Sky Sport is showing Premier League Years daily!) Cook, Arsenal, London
Dear Sam Bench...
That was the funniest mail I've read in ages. I've got to admire you for having the balls to give Kieran Richardson, David Healy, Chris Eagles and Danny Higginbotham as your riposte to those 'belittling' Ferguson's ability to develop youth players. Why did you stop there when David Bellion and Luke Chadwick were crying out to be mentioned?
The point is, you see, that they actually aren't very good. In fact, the 'turd' you mention that Arsenal developed are superior to any of those...although how you count Zinedine Cygan as a 'youth' player is beyond me. Of the players you mention, Rossi and Pique stand out, but that's hardly as a result of many decent performances at United is it? They both left United as unknown quantities, a little like David Bentley and Arsenal - do you want to give Wenger the credit for developing him, he was at the club longer than either of your two?
There are many, many ways that people can defend Ferguson. Yes, he was the man who brought through Beckham, Gery Neville, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, but that was over a decade ago, and, since then, United's youth system has produced very, very little of note. So while you are right in saying that Fergie has - to his credit - maintained success, any suggestion that he has done this while keeping his eye on youth development is, in fact, bollocks. Since that solitary group of United players, Wenger has spotted and developed Ashley Cole, Kolo Toure, Patrick Vieira, Mathieu Flamini, Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie and Thierry Henry. Can you possibly tell me that Ferguson can compare with that?
William O'Docherty
...Following Sam Bench's email, I felt compelled to write and refute his insane rumblings.
It is true that if you work on shoe-string budget as Wenger has been over the last few seasons you will make some signings that are not of the highest quality! At least Wenger rarely wastes more than a couple of Million unlike the one with the red nose who on more than one occasion got it horribly wrong. Veron anyone? How about Djemba - Djemba or Taibi? Do I need to go on?
I also find it strange that Sam uses Rossi as an example of Ferguson Shrewdness in the transfer market given that united sold him for around £5m last year only for him to have a fantastic season with Villareal replacing Diego Forlan (remember him?) effectively. I am not sure what is more astonishing the price or the complete failure of Fergie to utilise a non Portuguese speaking talent to its optimum potential!
Oh just for the record, as good a player as Ronaldo is, I'd have Walcott any day of the week, he may only have half the potential of Ronaldo but he has none of the attitude problems Ronaldo brings to a team. You and Madrid can fight over your Portuguese prima donna, I would be extremely interested to see how he behaves next year, after not getting his wish to move to Madrid!
E C
Sticking Up For Bellamy!
Can't believe I'm going to do this, but I'm going to stick up for Craig Bellamy (well a little bit anyway; it's more of a general point). Headline reads 'Bellamy abuses Ipswich fans'. Should he have done it? No. Should he have more self control? Yes. Is he a detestable little tw*t who no one would miss if he went abroad to play? Yes. The question I always ask in these situations is what did the fans do or say to make him react in such a way? I would place a pretty firm wager on it not being hello Craig you've been dead unlucky to get injured there, how's the leg feeling?
A bit of micky-taking is one thing, but vile abuse to my mind is unacceptable and if I was on the end of it, I'd probably want to say something back too. It stems from the mob mentality which seems to afflict football fans once they leave the house to go to a game. Standing up and shouting 'you ugly, hunchbacked little t**t, I hope you get crippled' at someone isn't really all that clever is it? However much you dislike someone or the team they play for shouldn't mean you can hurl personal abuse at them just because you've bought a ticket to go to a game. What's wrong with coming up with something funny??? John Terry next season is going to get serenaded by all and sundry with the famous Roy Orbison song 'Cryyyyiiinnng over you', when Ruud and Rooney played up front for United they were called Shrek and Donkey and that's all good comedy. We all come up with the same sort of stuff in the pub with our mates, so why should it be different at the football just cos it's players from a team we don't like???
Kids also go to these games and they hear worse language and abuse there than if they were allowed into an 18 rated film at the cinema. If none of the above arguments have swayed anyone then surely we can all agree that a better example should be set for them!!!
Tim (or am I just p***ing in the wind) Collins
Which Youngsters Do You Fancy?
With this transfer window being painfully drawn out, I thought I'd offer a change from the usual grumbling and Big 4/Dormant 4/Stoke baiting. I was wondering, which young players are you all looking forward to see shining for your clubs this season? As a Liverpool fan, these are my picks:
Krisztian Nemeth - Superb Hungarian deep lying forward, a hint of Fowler about his finishing and Cantona-like outside the box.
Emiliano Insua - Adventurous Argentinian left-back, almost to the point of suicidal, but no doubt has talent.
Damien Plessis - You may have seen him against Arsenal in April, and many Liverpool fans were impressed by his composed performance in central midfield. Poached from Lyon, being tall, black and a French centre-mid have led to the inevitable comparisons with Patrick Vieira.
David N'Gog - Seen very little of this chap, but took his goal in the friendly against Rangers very nicely. His stats when playing for the French youth teams sound good.
The established youngsters such as Babel, Lucas and Skrtel are all yet to prove themselves as well, and with Rafa having put a hugely impressive young reserve squad together in the past couple of years (Dani Pacheco, Lauri Dalla Valle, Francisco Duran, Gerardo Bruna, Nikola Saric), I am really looking forward to the next generation. I am tinged with regret at the lack of top-quality English youngsters coming through, especially with Arsenal suddenly having a young English contingent (that tip in an old mailbox about Jack Wilshere is not to be ignored), but I can't complain. I'd really like to see a spread of all Premier League clubs, so we can all see who to look out for. Maybe Championship fans could tell me who will be the new Joleon Lescott. My money is on Victor Moses...Anyway, I'm only 17 so my spirit hasn't been crushed to the extent to which I expect the worst from the world, so erm, please print.
Bren Sri, South London
Scudamore Is A Tit
Just a quick note on the ridiculous ideas being put forth by Peter Scudamore. We all know that the 39th game was not only a stupid idea but would actually have an unfair effect on the results of the league - one team would suffer from having to play a big name, one team would get a free pass to a bonus three points by playing that year's Derby. However, the new plan is just as stupid - five mini tourneys with four teams. So that's more games during the season, more competitions when people already don't really give a monkeys about the league cup and the FA Cup is losing its appeal. Does he really think that a Champions League team is going to take it that seriously when they'd rather conserve their energy for the first knock-out stage?
Here are two alternatives for him:
1. Set it up as a pre-season tournament. There are already plenty going on, these would be promoting the Premier League 'brand' rather than being a run out against teams from around Europe so it's not like they'd extra matches on the calender.
Or 2. The last eight left in the League Cup go and play the final three rounds over the course of eight days in another country - 1/4 finals on a Saturday, semis on the Tues/Weds and final on the following Saturday. They're games that already happen, it might incentivise some of the bigger teams to take the comp more seriously, the locals get to see some matches that those playing might actually care about so might actually get some decent games to watch, plus there's the chance that a team from outside the top flight might get a bit of cash too, thus not keeping it a closed shop...
Okay - they may not be great ideas, but they're a hell of a lot better than the b0llocks currently being spouted by that great t*t Scudamore...
Ben Hendy
...Yet again, Scudamore opens his mouth and crap falls out. This time it seems that his craven attempt to raise money for money's sake has taken account of some of the criticism the ridiculous 39th game idea took, but it's not any better.
I'll save the debate over what a 'Winter Break' is designed for, and whether it's to let the players have a rest or avoid the pile-up of fixtures resulting from games cancelled because of bad weather. Where his suggestion completely falls down is that it's simply playing a pre-season tournament at a different time.
As shite an idea as it was, the appeal of the '39th step' (to the overseas punters, not the English fans) was that it would be a genuine Premiership game, not a pre-season friendly. Scudamore knew that when he suggested it, because Premiership teams play all over the World in pre-season at the moment. But what is being suggested here is no different to the Russian Railways tournament, or the Emirates Cup. In fact it is less attractive to the local fans, because far from having to face a team from Milan, a Big Four club will be guaranteed a tournament free of all their closest rivals.
Football fans the World over can tell which tournaments matter and which don't. As can managers, who will follow the Man Utd blueprint of finding that a lot of their top players have a niggling minor injury just ahead of the tournament. They can say all they like about fining the clubs for not playing their strongest teams, but let's see them try and get some money back when Man Utd field five bench warmers. All Messrs Gill and Ferguson need to say is that if they aren't getting paid then they aren't turning up next year, and I think the dispute will be swiftly settled.
Quite how many cities will be trying to outbid each other for one of these white elephant tournaments remains to be seen. £40m+ is quite a lot for most African cities (or English cities, for that matter) to try and raise for a couple of games, or to expect from an Australian city that knows that football is only ever going to be of minority interest, especially when the games are happening at the same time as a major cricket tour.
So, let Scudamore get on with it. The teams have very little to lose, and the organisers have very little to gain. I give it two years at the most.
Or, he could simply put the FA stamp on the existing pre-season tournaments. ood luck asking for £40m for that.
Monkey Steve
Ditch The Grey And Go Pink
If anyone has seen Liverpool's pre-season friendlies, you would have noticed the grey jerseys. If history is anything to go by, it won't be Liverpool's year this year if those greys become a regular fixture.
Look at Man Utd's previous grey jersey back in the 90s, it was pretty obvious that they sucked while playing in greys. Why? Because it made team mates 'invisible'. Kitmaker...Change it, make it electric pink or something.
Andrew (PLEASE DITCH THE GREYS), Sydney
Really Dissing The Miller
I don't always agree with the Football365 writers, but you almost always propose logical opinions which we can take or leave after sensible debate or thought. Then I saw the name 'Nick Miller'. When I read his 'opinions' in 'State of the Footballing Nation' pieces: Mr Miller, it's one thing holding challenging perspectives and it is quite another being un uninformed, arrogant, obsequious twit. I am willing to bet you are one of those double-chinned, s**t-eating-grin types who enjoys ending his loud pub-rants in 'FACT!' regardless of your lack of any tertiary education or real-world experience.
In your blog, today, you proclaim Arsene Wenger to be a hypocrite. While I am one of the Highbury faithful ('Emirates faithful' is awkward at best), I think I'm fairly realistic about the club and Arsene Wenger - I can't believe that Arsenal or any club isn't guilty of tapping up a player at some time. You write about Fabregas and Flamini, 'The differences between Arsenal's conduct at that of Barcelona and Milan are more or less semantical.' No, Nick, it is 'more sematical' at least and the very point of the debate. Wenger is making a point about the validity of contracts (not a philosophical or moral point at all). Neither Fabreagas nor Flamini were subject to binding contracts. CRonaldo, Berbatov, Barry, Adebayor and most other players we discuss are.
Your total lack of understanding of this subject is encapsulated neatly in the following paragraph which I could cut-and-paste entirely, but this little gem says it all: 'tight contracts'. As opposed to what, exactly? Either it is a contract or it is not. If it is a contract, it is tight. If it is not a contract, it is not tight or if it is not 'tight', it is not a (valid) contract. You wind down saying, 'The difference is negliable..'. 'Negliable'? What is 'negliable'? On the assumption you meant, 'negligable', no, you are wrong again. The difference may appear to your closeted mind to be relatively small, but this is precisely the difference Arsene Wenger (and most others) and laywers, judges and judiciaries feel is crucial- and you seem to have been able to miss it entirely.
Lastly, to bring it back to detail, the reason young players have been successfully lured to Arsenal is because they knew they would play. If a player were to 'step down' to a smaller club or league in the search of playing time, you wouldn't have made any of the points above. This illustrates a number of things, chiefly that you are unable to distinguish one issue from another making you poorly suited for anything relating to public airing of your views. Like those w***ers on Fifa 08 'Be A Pro' online who run around chasing the ball like a bunch of six year olds, trying to score from every position on the pitch, you are utterly clueless. Leave Football365 and go get a job with Hazel Blears, Steve McClaren or any one of those self-serving, half-baked grinning clowns; it'd suit you infinitely better.
Mark (normally chilled solicitor/gooner who hates those Be A Pro game-killers) London
How Is Kenny Daglish Foreign?
I'm sure I won't be the only to point out to Paul F, LFC, that Kenny Dalglish has British nationality the same as all the other managers who won the double before him (not many I grant you), so how does this make him foreign?
Enrique (I'm foreign, so I know), Essex
We're Still Upsetting Some Irish
I love the way you only printed emails slagging off Kieran Burke's mail. The spirit of Rupert Murdoch is alive and well - agenda, censorship, agenda, a song that all ye 'Journalists' at F365 seam to whistle.
Shame on all the other fellow Irishmen slagging off Kieran Burke. Your ignorance of Irish history is almost disgusting...muppets, I note some of you reside in Dublin (shock horror, a cultureless Dublin man). They are not referred to as 'scousers who can swim' for nothing.
Let me ask this, if the comment was in reference to the Holocaust. Would it have been acceptable? I don't think so. The site probably would have been shut down...
Eoghan Carroll, Co.Meath, Ireland
