Tim Sansom
Before you read this review, you have to understand two important facts.
I was reading this particular book throughout the first three weeks of August up to the big match between the Gunners and Manchester United on the 28th August. The goings on at Arsenal seemed to be dominating every single media outlet in the UK. The Gunners had drawn with Newcastle, lost to Liverpool, and it seemed that the vast majority of commentators were hinting that Arsenal’s European dreams would be quashed before 1st September. I was waiting for a pundit to earnestly tell me that Arsenal were facing a relegation campaign this season. In some cases, the coverage was too hysterical, and this book was a useful calming influence. If you are an Arsenal fan and felt that the world is going to end after the departures of Nasri and Fabregas, this book can act as a tranquiliser.
The second fact is that I do recognise that books like this have received a very bad press. The variation of quality has caused this particular kind of book to be dismissed by the football literati. However, there is not an age limit on a footballer writing a book, and some fairly ‘young’ players have been involved in some decent offerings during the last couple of years. However, I have also read some miserable offerings during the last five years, and discovered the same books in the bargain basement within a couple of months.
About six years ago, it seemed that every current footballer wanted to write a book, or have a book written in their name. If you walked into an average bookshop, the sports shelves would be laden down with books that tried to summarise a two year career in 395 pages. There was a desperate variation in quality, with some books being nothing more than a sporty ‘Hello’ magazine, with pictures of the ‘author’ walking his dogs around Holmes Chapel and an arty shot of the ‘author,’ with his adoring family, draped over the Chesterfield sofa. Some books seemed to resemble a corny furniture magazine from around 1985.
One book contained a whole double page spread about how the sportsman needs to visit his barbers in Bolton before he gets involved in a big match. He earnestly tells us that you need to “look sharp” when you are involved in the action. That might be true and it was nice to get an insider’s view about an old fashioned Lancashire barber shop stenched in the smell of stale fags, Old Spice, brown walls, and black barber capes stained with dandruff and dust. However, I wanted to read about the sporting action and the big fixtures.
There is no talk about barber shops in this book about Robin Van Persie, who seems to get very little media coverage these days, compared to his early years in north London. It is weird how a player can suddenly disappear from your consciousness. Around five years ago, it would have been Van Persie who would have dominated the media world in the post Henry landscape. If he had made a transfer back to Holland, there would have been a collective nervous breakdown of a similar level to what has occurred during the last couple of weeks.
This book went with me on to the Devon beach, on to the train for the morning commute, and back out of the bag for the evening commute. The book was opened when I gave up on summer TV. The pages were turned as I tried to get to sleep at night. The book jogged my memories about some past games, and the story entertains you if you like your football.
If you believe that there were only two players that played for Arsenal during the last couple of seasons, this biography will be a revelation to you. The length of time that Van Persie has spent with the Gunners is pretty impressive in contrast to the big money player contracts of today, and his years at Arsenal dominate this book. However there is some interesting nostalgia about the Dutchman’s career before he arrived in the red half of north London, including how the ‘then’ petulant midfielder seemed to fall out with everyone who he encountered in Dutch football. A Feyenoord v Ajax reserve game descends into dangerous chaos with Van Persie at the centre of a ferocious melee. It is difficult to believe, on looking at Van Persie now, that he would have a snappy attitude to the coaches and players of his early years.
Like a faithful dog scampering after its owner on Parliament Hill Fields, the book trawls through the key matches of Van Persie’s Arsenal career that begin in the later days of the Invincibles. The book frequently talks about Dennis Bergkamp being the mentor for his fellow countryman, and there is a large amount of detail regarding the key breakthrough goals of Van Persie’s early Arsenal years. Obviously, a large amount of match reports and player interviews have been digested in the making of this book. Some matches have an already higher profile than others, and the book does jog some memories, regardless of whether you remember the various interviews and ‘statements’ that are attributed to Van Persie.
Van Persie’s international career is examined too, including his performances in the World Cups of 2006 and 2010 and Euro 2008. The general story suggested that it was a surprise for Van Persie to break into the international squad, considering his difficult relationship with everyone in Dutch football. Each of the three tournament campaigns are noted for their incidents whether on or off the pitch, and the book climaxes with the World Cup Final in July 2010. The defeat of the Netherlands, and the manner of the defeat by the Dutch means that it is a slightly mute end to the book, coupled with the analysis of the New Year’s Day win against Birmingham at the start of 2011, which was a game that Arsenal won, but only after having to endure 90 minutes with a nasty undertone.
With the benefit of hindsight, we all know what has happened to Arsenal during 2011, and a future book about Robin Van Persie needs to examine how the Dutchman managed to re-define his role in the Arsenal team following the exit of some of the squad’s ‘superstars.’
In conclusion, this book is an interesting read about a key figure who remains in the Arsenal squad. The biography will remind you that Arsenal is bigger than one Spaniard and a Frenchman, and will help you to be reminded of some of the key Arsenal games of the last seven years. In as far as it goes, it will keep you entertained during those periods when you are questioning the meaning of the rest of the season, of needing a mental diversion from the monotony of daily life. .
'Robin Van Persie The Biography' is written by Andy Lloyd Williams and published by John Blake Publishing Ltd in hardback. The RRP is £17.99, but it can be purchased from Amazon for just £8.46
