By Tony Attwood
And so it goes on and on and boringly on. Press conference time and the silly nutters who sit their supposedly on our behalf asking probing questions to reveal hidden truths instead ask the manager if he is going to stay, and/or when will his future be decided. I think we’ve been there before.
The journos did manage to get something established – when the next board meeting of Arsenal will happen. Wow, hold the front page, it is after the cup final. Shock, amazement, incredible, wow wow and thrice wow etc etc. Who would ever have imagined that.
And then Mr Wenger did his lovely bit where he talks down to the journalists as if they were a bunch of five year olds asking why granddad looks old, and they really don’t get the fact that he is insulting them. I always love that bit.
“You have certainly to know that there are many aspects of a football club which have to be discussed at a board meeting. One of them is, of course, what is happening with the manager, the future, the players who have to come in, the renewal of contracts. You don’t miss problems in a board meeting.
“Of course I will be there. At the moment I think we should focus on short term and what’s going on on Sunday and in the Cup final.”
That’s all that they got, and so in response the Guardian tells us that “A number of fan groups have called for Wenger’s near 21-year reign to come to an end, with the club in serious danger of missing out on Champions League qualification for the first time under the Frenchman.”
Which is roughly true, given that two is “a number”, and so is three. They could have said that a blog that gets around 5 million page views a year has taken a difference stance, and pointed out all the silly mistakes the newspapers have made in this utterly futile and pointless pursuit but then no, perhaps they wouldn’t. But they don’t, of course.
They could have said that we enjoyed the last demo-free match which supposedly was avoided by the anti-Wengerians, and that we’ll be asking for the same to happen on Sunday, but they choose not to. One side of the story is all that is needed. I suppose they think their readers might get confused if they ever tried to admit there was a second side.
Meanwhile Tony Adams has now got himself a lot of publicity that he doesn’t really need reminding his audience that he once said that Arsène Wenger “couldn’t coach his way out of a paper bag”. After that he found that he felt that “I would never get a chance in any capacity while Arsene was there. Much as I respected him for his long and successful tenure, my occasional willingness to pass comment on him and the team probably counted against me.”
Well, Tony, let me try and explain this. There are two types of criticism: positive and negative. The positive suggests what a person does well and how things could be made better. And there are two types of people: those who have been successful in a job, and those who have not. So positive/negative and successful/non-successful.
You see Mr Adams, you were a superb, superb, brilliant player and leader of men on the pitch. One of the best it has ever been my privilege to watch. You were also magnificent in the way you stood up to your own failings, fought your demons, and set up an organisation that helps other young men who have stumbled as you did. Utterly superb.
But none of this makes a throwaway comment of the paper bag type helpful. Nor does it get you respect. That’s simply not how the world works. And of course it leads to Mr Wenger saying, “Well, I do not give too much importance to what Tony Adams says. Honestly.” What else do you expect Tony? You were a manager with Wycombe and Portsmouth and you worked in Eastern Europe without making your club rise to dominance. In Spain your club lost all six of their league with you in charge. If you want to influence a situation, this simply is never going to be the way to do it.
I know that had I been manager of Wycombe or Portsmouth I would have done worse, and that’s really the point. I know my numerous failings and weaknesses, and am fairly confident about the one or two areas of life where I am fortunately able to outshine a few other people. By all means try everything, of course, but don’t insult people who are better at a job than you, and then expect them to treat you with respect or dignity.
That doesn’t mean you have to bend down and worship Mr Wenger, far from it, but it means you have to show him why your comments are helpful. And be respectful.
There are tens of thousands of people who (if they every think about me at all, which of course they normally don’t) think I am a total crackpot idiot, a useless writer, and that it is highly debatable whether my intelligence level is higher or lower than that of the average squirrel. That’s how it goes – but I don’t take any notice of them, because I don’t hold them in high regard, mostly because they have shown me no reason so to do.
If on the other hand a writer who I admire and whose work I think has added something to entertainment, or the sum of human knowledge, calls me a total crackpot idiot scribbler who would be better locked up than allowed to be near a computer, then yes I would pause and consider and wonder why and quite possibly change my ways.
I think Alexis got things right this week by criticising the demonstrations against Mr Wenger. He has every right to because he is there on the pitch, playing for the club and for the manager, and doing it rather well. So when he says, “For me, it (fan demonstrations) is very bad. He is the manager who gave a stadium to the club, won cups, and he has been 21 years in the job,” he added. “He is the creator of the stadium, the players and style of the club,” then I think that is a comment to consider.
Of course those criticising Mr Wenger won’t think about it, because they have their agenda and nothing is going to change their point of view. But occasionally it would be nice if they admitted that.
FA play the game of marginally considering one outrage to take attention away from its own chaos
How the PGMO could try to get around the use of video assistance for referees
The curious case of the wrath of penalty Gods on Arsenal!
Arsenal Transfer Index Edition 6. 39 players joining the club; 13 players leaving.
Tony Adam has a great and successful years as a player at Arsenal. However, he has nothing to show as a successful coach. What we know he is just a coach or a manager of a small club that nobody at Arsenal could be bothered to know the club’s name. Having said that, Mr Adam has just made himself look silly when he criticized Mr Wenger “could not coach him self out of a paper bag”. There is no comparison between Mr Adam (the great player) and Mr Wenger (Arsenal Manager) as far as coaching a big club is concern. Sorry Mr. Adam and please send your CV to the Arsenal Board.
“For me, it (fan demonstrations) is very bad. He is the manager who gave a stadium to the club, won cups, and he has been 21 years in the job,” he added. “He is the creator of the stadium, the players and style of the club,”
how dare he? that aztec little bastard from tocococococpila favela…
does he not know about graham then????????? shame on you alexis !
Weird thing that Tony Adams thing.
He was a massive player for us. A club legend as a player. Thats all. Nothing more.
All he did was talk loads of shit, which only shows why he isnt anywhere near where Bould is. Is he saying he tried to use his club legend status to get an assistant managers job? What is he saying exactly?
As I said on the other thread, serialising this pile of dog shit just gives the Scum the opportunity to splash a negative Arsenal headline across the back page every day up until cup final day.
Yes Adams is a prat in the mould of many other ex gunners, but again it’s the media that are giving him a voice. As they do to anyone, anywhere, anytime, that has something bad to say about Wenger, Arsenal or the board, or the fans for that matter, or the tea lady or the……well you get the picture.
And some still try to argue we don’t get any more negative media coverage than anyone else. Really ?
Adams just makes ridiculous statements to please the simpleton WOB army,just because you’re legendary player doesn’t mean you automatically get a role at the club.Down on the Online Gooner they’re now cursing genuine Arsenal fans and still trying to get everybody to stay away from games.Sad state of affairs from a group of glory hunters only interested in negative drama,where have all these clowns appeared from over the last ten years..
Chinese bit of wisdom :
When the wise man points to the moon the idiot sees the finger…
First time outside 4th in 20 years…
Idiots I tell you, just idiots
PS : in your stats maybe you could compare number of victories since AW came to other clubs….
The idea being that we could derive a ‘happiness index’ from that stat
After all, normal fans are happy with a win, sad with a loss….
Said index could be more telling then : 20 years inside 4th….
If Adams would have been a success as a manager he might have some right to say something. But apart from Mourinho most other managers use their brains and try to speak in a sensible way when speaking about another manager.
Admas is not a successful manager so would have been sensible to shut up about other managers…. I think he hasn’t used his brain that well….
Walter, maybe Adams would be better qualified to criticize Gary Neville or Stuart Robson, they are both on a similar level to him. I am glad Arsene put Adams in his place in his press conference.
I am beginning to lose my respect for him.
I worship the guy so much so that my web id all ends with a 6 paying homage to him.
Maybe I should change it to Gunner6(not!)….
Gunner6
Who’d have thought it would come to this?
It’s not so long since Adams was justifiably idolised by most Arsenal fans, and now he finds himself ridiculed.
Alexis seems to have the wrong idea about who was responsible for building the Emirates.
Tony
I’m glad that both Arsene and Alexis (key word is “and”) put an end on what looked like one of the most pointless, saddest and, fortunately, made up feuds I’ve ever seen. There was an attempt to make the whole thing to look like it’s either Arsene or Alexis (and, just to make it perfectly clear, members of both camps – pro-Wenger and anti-Wenger were making awful comments about either Arsene or Alexis, regarding of their position).
As I’ve already said, the key word is “and”. We need both Arsene and Alexis to stay in the Arsenal-coloured ship at their respective positions in order to have a glorious cruise next season.
In case either of them is reading Untold Arsenal, I will quote Aleksa Šantić, one of the greatest poet of 19th century, or, to be more precise, I will quote the translation of the first verse of his poem “Ostajte ovdje!”:
“Stay here! … The sun of strangers’ sky
Won’t warm you like this one does
Bitter are the bites of bread over there
Where there’s no one close and no brother.”
@Mike Hazel: Or maybe Adams is auditioning for a pundit’s sit in one of the British or even overseas studios? A necessary qualification is an ability to abuse without basis anything Arsenal, especially, Wenger. Never mind the role he played in helping him rail-in his drink habit and to ensure that his statue is one of those in front of the Ems.
Usmanov’s making his move
Leon, not sure what you mean, but Usmanov is currently facing corruption allegations and indeed have moved top of the charts on youtube by talking like a mafia boss
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8c1hR54RyI (the english subtitles are somewhat comprehensible)
hm, the subtitles are not that good actually
but this catches the spirit http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/correction-russia-navalny-story-47512126
OlegYch
From The Finacial Times
https://www.ft.com/content/020b3298-3ca8-11e7-ac89-b01cc67cfeec
Sorry, subscription required, but it’s all over NewsNow and Daily Mail etc.
Wont come to anything yet.
Usmanov and the Wenger out rabble are a marriage made in heaven.Neither cares how they do it as long as their lust for bought success materialises. Please Wenger out rabble stay away against Everton,you gits won’t be missed.
There is a simplicity here that is being missed by the dim. Wenger is an educated person in football. There are many footballers that are uneducated. Tony Adams is a failure trying to become successful. He has lost himself in his stupidity. He does not have either education nor intelligence but is using his social position gained from football as a crutch.
The likes of the TV pundits or the Talkshite broadcasters are mainly uneducated morons given positions of public facing responsibility without any kind of intelligence test. It is the way corruption flourishes. The idiots do not see reality & report on what makes them a dollar. They have less intelligence than a guide dog but comment on what they supposedly see. How some of these give autographs is quite amazing. It shows their basic education. They cannot spell, write or add up. They cannot even kick a ball without fouling an opponent. It is their fortune that gave them a position in a sport exploited by money men (of a certain type) that has brought shame to the game.
I still don’t understand the “wenger gave us a stadium” comment,he contributed to it I know but did he really give us the stadium? I can see people trying to act like the stay away protest is not harmful to the club,it is in a very big way and we all know it. I just hope things work out well at the end as a split fanbase is very dangerous
Nice , Tony , hit the right spot. And some great comments of support , with the usual sly ( not fooling any one here !) trip that anyone worth his salt saw coming miles away !
May be this weekend those stay away ‘fans’ could make their influence( stop laughing!) felt by having a gathering outside that site of our great successes – Highbury Stadium ? Ex-players and commentators ;the George Graham Is God members ; WOBs , bannermen and other dissidents could hold court and praise and lament to their heart’s content. I hope I’ve not incited a riot !
Let those Arsene Knows Best losers go to the game at the Ems and watch the crap that the team has been putting on recently . Let them enjoy themselves in ‘winning ‘ another fourth place trophy ! That really ought to please Bayern and Barca !
All thing being said , I truly fear for Nicky’s poor old Gran’s health – she may have a real tough time cleaning all that ‘abuse’ that may be inflicted on certain statues outside the Ems ! And probably many discarded poorly thought out, poorly spelled and irrelevant posters and banners .
And as the battle rages on elsewhere , I ‘ll probably kick back , sit back with a bottle of wine and enjoy the whole show in the comfort of my home ,on my 55 inch HD tv.
Ahhhhhhhh !
While this not totally incredulous , yet it is disturbing .
Why British Teachers retire early or take to drink…..
The following questions were in a UK grade 12 equivalent examination– (Purportedly genuine answers).
Q. What is a turbine?
A. Something an Arab or Sheik wears on his head.
Q. How is dew formed?
A. The sun shines down on the leaves and makes them perspire.
Q. What are steroids?
A. Things for keeping carpets still on the stairs.
(Shoot yourself now, there is little hope.)
Q. Name a major disease associated with cigarettes.
A. Premature death.
Q. How can you delay milk turning sour?
A. Keep it in the cow.
(Simple, but brilliant)
Q. How are the main 20 parts of the body categorised (e.g. The abdomen)?
A. The body is consisted into 3 parts – the brainium, the borax and the abdominal cavity. The brainium contains the brain, the borax contains the heart and lungs and the abdominal cavity contains the 5 bowels… A, E, I, O, U.
Q. What is the fibula?
A. A small lie.
Q. What does ‘varicose’ mean?
A. Nearby
Q. Give the meaning of the term ‘Caesarean section.’
A. The caesarean section is a district in Rome .
Q. What is a seizure?
A. A Roman Emperor.
(Julius Seizure, I came, I saw, I conked out.)
Q. What is a terminal illness?
A. When you are sick at the airport.
(Irrefutable)
Q. Name the four seasons
A. Salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar.
No wonder Britain Brexited !!
@Brickfields Gunners, 5:13 am, 20/05/2017
You really are looking for trouble from some quarters 😉
You have to forgive Mr. Adams… He’s just trying to sell a few books. He needs to say something outrageous !
I believe that Big Tone had a heart operation in 2015? I have noticed he seems to have become a bit less mindful, according to the media remixes of what he has said, and how he has behaved, since then. There are two types of people in this world, those who think there are two types of people and those who are smart enough to know better! There must be more than two types of criticism? I reckon Mr Wenger could clarify that! Alexis Sanchez! Brilliant,magnificent Alexis Sanchez!
Is it that simple? Tony Adams may have been bloody stupid in a number of aspects of his life, but as a centre back and a captain on the pitch he was clearly very intelligent. That’s why he had such a successful playing career. He has definitely acknowledged what a positive contribution Arsene Wenger made to his playing career. I’m not saying the sun is a questionable newspaper, but i am hesitant to take what they are publishing about Arsenal at face value!
@ Brickfield Gunners,
I am buzzing reading those jokes 🙂
I only saw a few years of Adams since I’ve only ever known Wenger as our manager but as in any sport, a decent player doesn’t necessarily mean a decent person too.
I can only assume Tone is still at the Lager.Six games in Spain and six loses,Those heady days in Azerbaijan for FK Gabala and of course 12 games in charge of Chongqing Dangdai Lifan,in China,where he steered them to 10th.If Wenger was to start slagging off Adams for his defensive abilities you could understand the irony.For Adams to suggest that Wenger “couldn’t coach his way out of a paper bag” is beyond laughable.Kevin Keegan,Bryan Robson,Alan Shearer all great players and useless managers.I met Tony Adams when he was captain of Arsenal in a bar when he was drinking and to this day have never been so disappointed to meet a “Hero”- He kept opening his mouth without letting his brain engage – seems like not much has changed.