Prelim: Summer 2025 will be the 100th anniversary of the arrival of Herbert Chapman at Arsenal, and to commemorate this we are publishing a series on Chpaman, and how the most unlikely transfer of a manager ever, actually happened. You can follow it on the Arsenal History Society website, with the latest article appearing here.
By Tony Attwood
- Football has been utterly ruined, and it is time to fight back
- Arsenal’s end of the current downturn is there for them to grasp
In 2029 the Earth is going to have a very, very close encounter with a fairly hefty asteroid which might cause a certain amount of difficulty. But by and large the feeling is that we shouldn’t worry about it too much, largely because there is nothing much we can do. Shooting asteroids out of the heavens is a technology that is sadly not very advanced at the moment, so all we can do is sit and watch. Or take cover.
And I mention this because just as we can’t do anything about the asteroid, so we personally can’t do anything about Arsenal. But clearly journalists do think they can do something about Arsenal – because they have done such things in the past. Whip up enough negative energy and they can encourage a supporter uprising against a player, the manager, or the board and ultimately they might force a change. Which of course then gives the journalists a free story. Lots of speculation beforehand, then lots of negative writing about the club during the changeover, and lots more negative writing afterwards, when the change doesn’t immediately bring benefits..
At least that is what history shows us. Forced change is normally for the benefit of the media, who then have something else to write about, without all that effort of doing any research.
As a result, very few people are writing much about the asteroid that is going to come awfully close to the earth in 2029, even though its effects could be of some significance. But lots and lots of people are writing about how bad Arsenal have become and what they need to do next.
And presumably, the people who are writing negative things about Arsenal at the moment really do think they know what would improve the situation. The argument seems to be that Arsenal, being Arsenal, should be higher up the league than they are – although unfortunately, that is the same argument used about Aston Villa, Tottenham Hots, Newcastle and ManU.
In all such arguments, the club is being let down by the manager, and probably some players…
Which is why, I suppose one so often turns back to some form of statistics as a final resort – like the “last six games” table we have often used in the past. Yet at the moment even that doesn’t give much in the way of solace.
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 5 | +7 | 16 |
| 2 | Tottenham | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 7 | +9 | 12 |
| 3 | Chelsea | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 7 | +5 | 11 |
| 4 | Nottingham Forest | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 5 | +5 | 11 |
| 5 | Man City | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 8 | +2 | 11 |
| 6 | Fulham | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 9 | +1 | 10 |
| 7 | Bournemouth | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 7 | +1 | 10 |
| 8 | Everton | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 4 | +2 | 9 |
| 9 | Aston Villa | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 9 | +1 | 9 |
| 10 | Arsenal | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 10 | +1 | 8 |
It’s not just that Arsenal are half way down the league when measured over the last six games, but that wretched club round the corner is second.
So it is strange in the midst of such musings to find the Telegraph taking a slightly different tack at the moment, writing, “There will always be a temptation at Arsenal to overreact to any sort of setback and there are bound to be those who wish to use a second successive defeat for Mikel Arteta’s side to provoke that sort of response…”
Now that is a bit rich, given that it is the media that tends to do the overreacting, as can be seen by the fact that although it is true that Arsenal lost, Arsenal dominated the game this week.
And of course Arsenal can do something about that, but they can’t do anything about is the fact that Merino was punched in the head. That’s what happens, and that’s what goes unpunished. The media will even mention it because the PGMO injunction which means referees must not be criticised in relation to Premier League games, doesn’t apply when foreign refs are involved.
Indeed as Arteta said, “if that is a penalty then the one on Mikel Merino where he punches him in the head has to be a penalty, 1,000 per cent. These are the margins in this game and it’s very, very difficult to accept.
“I am extremely frustrated because these are two decisions that marked the course of the game. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do. We have to accept it and move on.”
But I wonder if that is right. Power in football is divided. Uefa and Fifa has some, Manchester City and the City Group have quite a bit, but the rest of the clubs in the Premier League united, do have quite a bit together. And maybe, just maybe, the rest of those clubs are starting to rouse themselves with the view that maybe football in England, and come to that refereeing in England, could be organised in a different way.
There is nothing that can be done about the
