From the end of January to the beginning of March, in anticipation of my 20th birthday and acceptance that professional sport is well and truly beyond me, I’m looking back through my 20 years to find the sporting memories that have had the biggest impact on me.
I go back to 2014 here as Arsenal's long wait for a trophy finally came to an end in a dramatic 3-2 victory against Hull in the FA Cup Final and why Arsene Wenger is a much better manager than many give him credit for.
____
2014: At LARSt
When my age was still in single figures, it took me a fair bit of time to settle and find my team. It was always going to be one of the "Big Four" at the time (Liverpool, Chelsea, United and Arsenal), I was far too preoccupied with Harlequins to burden my young mind with another mid-table struggle.
It was in 2005 that I finally began settling on Arsenal. One of my childhood "girlfriends" briefly swayed me to Chelsea for a few months the following year but once that was out of my system it was Arsenal all the way.
My sole connection to the Gunners was my Great Uncle Cliff, who persuaded me to become an Arsenal fan with a poster "signed" by all the players. He had merely written all of the squad's first names in fancy writing but I still cherish that item today.
Supporting Arsenal meant supporting Arsene. Arsene Wenger had been at the club for 11 years when I started regularly following the club in 2007. It would be another 11 before he finally left.
The contrast in success between Wenger's first half and his last half were a source of many bar charts and graphics on BBC Sport and a source of frustration for Gunners' Fans.
After nine years where Wenger won four FA Cups, three Premier Leagues (including the first and only unbeaten season in English football history), and four Community Shields, Arsenal won NOTHING for the next nine.
I had signed up for a club that would regularly win trophies and I didn't get it. The Champions League 2006 final where a red card came back to bite Arsenal so late in the day, the horrendous League Cup Semi Final at Spurs in 2008, and without doubt worst of all the calamitous mix up that gifted Birmingham the 2011 League Cup.
Promising title challenges falling apart at Bolton, Stoke, Wigan, Sunderland, the first four that come to mind. The lack of victories over the other big clubs, the pain of transfer window after transfer window going by where we sell our best players, who aren't replaced, to our rivals.
Perhaps that's what made Arsenal winning the FA Cup in 2014 all the more satisfying for me.
Not as satisfying however as it would have been for Wenger himself. A man who, by the end of his reign, was suffering vile abuse from the large plastic contingent of Arsenal's fan base.
People are so quick to separate his first 9 years and the subsequent 9 years as if it was some sort of decline, but I'm not afraid to argue that it was those 9 trophy-less years that was Wenger's greatest achievement.
But for a few crazy individual errors and a bit of bad luck, Arsenal could well have won trophies, they might have even won the League. To do that when you're spending roughly £300 million less on players is an incredible achievement (and I reckon £300 million back then is worth about three times what it is now).
For him to continue to maintain Arsenal as title challengers was staggering. They didn't spend more than £16 million on a player till 2013 (United had previously done this 12 times, Chelsea 20) and they consistently sold their best talent.
His loyalty was quite incredible too. Munich, Madrid and many more came calling and he said no. He stuck by a club where he was receiving a negative budget for transfers and regular abuse from certain sections of the supporters.
Above all, Wenger showed resilience. He had a steely determination to take the club into the modern age and keep them at the top in the process and that's why for me, the 2014 FA Cup win was as much a celebration of him as it was for Arsenal.
He went on to win two more FA Cups and followed up with a Community Shield in each of his last three FA Cup wins.
Whilst it is true to say that when the money become available his stubbornness, particularly regarding transfers and the way he wanted Arsenal to play, was his downfall, but had it not been for that stubbornness, Arsenal simply wouldn't have competed in the way they did between 2006 and 2014.Most would have lost heart, or more likely jumped ship.
In a year of disappointments ranging from England's cricketers getting hammered 5-0 in Australia in the Ashes, their football counterparts flopping out of the 2014 World Cup and Andy Murray failing to defend his Wimbledon title, Arsenal's long wait for a trophy was very much due.
2014: At LARSt
When my age was still in single figures, it took me a fair bit of time to settle and find my team. It was always going to be one of the "Big Four" at the time (Liverpool, Chelsea, United and Arsenal), I was far too preoccupied with Harlequins to burden my young mind with another mid-table struggle.
It was in 2005 that I finally began settling on Arsenal. One of my childhood "girlfriends" briefly swayed me to Chelsea for a few months the following year but once that was out of my system it was Arsenal all the way.
My sole connection to the Gunners was my Great Uncle Cliff, who persuaded me to become an Arsenal fan with a poster "signed" by all the players. He had merely written all of the squad's first names in fancy writing but I still cherish that item today.
Supporting Arsenal meant supporting Arsene. Arsene Wenger had been at the club for 11 years when I started regularly following the club in 2007. It would be another 11 before he finally left.
Wenger was appointed in 1996 and went on to become the club's most successful manager
The contrast in success between Wenger's first half and his last half were a source of many bar charts and graphics on BBC Sport and a source of frustration for Gunners' Fans.
After nine years where Wenger won four FA Cups, three Premier Leagues (including the first and only unbeaten season in English football history), and four Community Shields, Arsenal won NOTHING for the next nine.
I had signed up for a club that would regularly win trophies and I didn't get it. The Champions League 2006 final where a red card came back to bite Arsenal so late in the day, the horrendous League Cup Semi Final at Spurs in 2008, and without doubt worst of all the calamitous mix up that gifted Birmingham the 2011 League Cup.
Promising title challenges falling apart at Bolton, Stoke, Wigan, Sunderland, the first four that come to mind. The lack of victories over the other big clubs, the pain of transfer window after transfer window going by where we sell our best players, who aren't replaced, to our rivals.
Perhaps that's what made Arsenal winning the FA Cup in 2014 all the more satisfying for me.
Not as satisfying however as it would have been for Wenger himself. A man who, by the end of his reign, was suffering vile abuse from the large plastic contingent of Arsenal's fan base.
People are so quick to separate his first 9 years and the subsequent 9 years as if it was some sort of decline, but I'm not afraid to argue that it was those 9 trophy-less years that was Wenger's greatest achievement.
Arsenal reached the Champions League knockout stages every year during their trophy-less period
But for a few crazy individual errors and a bit of bad luck, Arsenal could well have won trophies, they might have even won the League. To do that when you're spending roughly £300 million less on players is an incredible achievement (and I reckon £300 million back then is worth about three times what it is now).
For him to continue to maintain Arsenal as title challengers was staggering. They didn't spend more than £16 million on a player till 2013 (United had previously done this 12 times, Chelsea 20) and they consistently sold their best talent.
His loyalty was quite incredible too. Munich, Madrid and many more came calling and he said no. He stuck by a club where he was receiving a negative budget for transfers and regular abuse from certain sections of the supporters.
Above all, Wenger showed resilience. He had a steely determination to take the club into the modern age and keep them at the top in the process and that's why for me, the 2014 FA Cup win was as much a celebration of him as it was for Arsenal.
He went on to win two more FA Cups and followed up with a Community Shield in each of his last three FA Cup wins.
Whilst it is true to say that when the money become available his stubbornness, particularly regarding transfers and the way he wanted Arsenal to play, was his downfall, but had it not been for that stubbornness, Arsenal simply wouldn't have competed in the way they did between 2006 and 2014.Most would have lost heart, or more likely jumped ship.
Wenger deservedly received praise after it was announced he would be leaving
In a year of disappointments ranging from England's cricketers getting hammered 5-0 in Australia in the Ashes, their football counterparts flopping out of the 2014 World Cup and Andy Murray failing to defend his Wimbledon title, Arsenal's long wait for a trophy was very much due.
Comments
Post a Comment