Where I work, in theory, I spend my days toiling in front of a computer watching my life slip away from me (it’s only a bloody job over the summer!). However, in practice, most of my days are spent surfing the net for the slightest morsel of football (more specifically, Arsenal) related news that I haven’t heard before. Upon browsing yesterday, I came across the unfortunate news that Bobby had done his cruciate ligaments again. Poor Bobby.

This led me to consider, so many players have left Arsenal in the Wenger era in search of pastures new and excessively green grass, but end up realising that, rather than finding a bowling green, the grass on the other side is, indeed, more like a dried up goal-mouth that has been played on all summer at your local park. The list is long; Overmars, Petit, Vieira, Anelka and Edu, to name but a few. Now, not all of these players left for the wrong reasons, they merely left because they fancied something new, which is fair enough. But it would appear that no matter what the circumstances, most, if not all of the players to leave Arsenal have almost immediately endured meteoric slumps in fortunes. Regrettably, it would appear that we now have to add Bobby to the list.

I like Bobby. He is a truly gifted football player, and although he wasn’t against the odd bit of “simulation”, when he was in his pomp, he was a magnificently elegant athlete who was a joy to watch. For this reason, it disappointed me greatly to hear the news that he may miss the whole season. I felt similar disappointment for Edu when he suffered his injury. Both players were liked and both, I assume, would have been more than happy to stay under different circumstances. It’s just one of those things, isn’t it?

I am convinced that I am not the only one to think that there is clear evidence that life away from the Arsenal isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I wonder whether or not Thierry considered the fortunes of messes Overmars, Petit, Anelka, etc. before making his decision. If he did, he is one of a very small bunch. This brings me on to Chasley Tweedy. I’m not going to ramble on about him, as it’s been done to death, but wouldn’t it be nice for him to become the next victim of ‘the curse’ (now, I’m not wishing injury upon anyone, merely wishing his career to go down the pan… ).

People like Hole deserve this kind of misfortune. Humble masters of the game, such as Bobby, do not.