Kevin Whitcher
For me, the period from when Theo Walcott finally made his debut for Arsenal in 2006 until the statement signing of Mesut Ozil in 2013 will, with time, become ‘The Walcott Years’. Arsenal trying to do it on the cheap (albeit partly by necessity) with potential rather than proven, but not having the requisite quality to achieve what was actually possible (by taking a different approach to recruitment, coaching and tactics).
Theo is now due a testimonial, although it remains an oddity how he signed in January 2006, featured on the bench, but never made his Arsenal debut until after the club had upped sticks and moved from Highbury.
Remembering this particular story about Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, which revealed that Arsenal had to pay extra to Southampton every time the Ox played for more than 20 minutes (which they unsuccessfully avoided not realizing that injury time was part of the total) convinced me that an arrangement of some sort must have been in place regarding Walcott making any appearance at all on the pitch during his first half season at Arsenal. Basically, in spite of Theo being on the bench, the manager’s in-game tactics were being determined by budgetary concerns. There used to be a football club over there, anyone?
Theo then, without a Premier League appearance to his name, went to the World Cup Finals in Germany in 2006 with the England squad to sunbathe in Baden Baden and play zero minutes in any of their five matches. It is still one of the most astonishing decisions in the history of football, and Sven Goran-Eriksson did not hang around to suffer an inquest into the thinking behind it.
Theo did finally make his debut in the 2006-07 season, and we waited for him to develop into the player all Gooners wanted him to become. Almost ten years later, he habitually has supporters tearing their hair out and, at times, giving him dog’s abuse, because he failed to fulfill his promise. Yes, he scores goals and creates chances, but in Arsenal’s team, it’s like shooting fish in a barrel. You get so many opportunities, eventually something comes off.
We have seen some fantastic goals by Theo, most recently v Manchester City. However, the pure inconsistency of his performances, and finishing, mark him out as a player who truly, as someone recently emailed me, is of Bolton Wanderers standard.
Certainly, injuries are mitigation for his ultimate lack of contribution to the club cause over a decade, but when he does play for any kind of extended period, no-one could make a case for the number 14 as a consistent performer.
Ultimately, Theo is not clinical enough often enough to be the player that a title winning side needs. And this is part of the reason that the club have failed to win the Premier League title in the Walcott years.
Given his inconsistency, his all too frequent failure to deliver, his best role is that of impact sub, coming on to run at tired defenders. That, I could live with, even if his wages are on the high side for a player you would use for a maximum of 20 minutes per game.
The club, on a marketing level, are happy with Theo because of his good guy image. It fits in with the idea of a business that is selling itself as a family day out on the London tourist circuit, whose staff are trained by the same concern that handle Disneyland’s employees. He is wholesome, have a nice day, PR. No Diego Costa he. Thoroughly unpleasant as the Chelsea forward may be, he has medals to show for it. Luis Suarez is not an easy sell on the same level. But you know what, nice guys don’t generally win you football championships.
Arsene Wenger though, with his continued faith in Theo, does like nice guys in his dressing room. No conflict, no argument, no bad vibes. No Teddy Sheringham – Andy Cole feuds. Players depart the club if they make those kind of waves – Willam Gallas and Emmanuel Adebayor being two examples. Sure, you might not have time for those two individuals, but go back to Arsenal’s successful sides and you can be sure there were players that called their colleagues out. Arsenal’s captains in the last couple of years – Arteta, Mertesacker, Cazorla. Nice guys. Theo captain for the defeat last Sunday. Nice gesture. Nice, nice, nice.
Arsenal have been missing something since the stadium move. It’s a gap they have put Theo Walcott in and it hasn’t worked. Idealism is a nice concept. Reality shows us a different consequence.
Will you be attending Theo’s testimonial to pay tribute? Could be a nice family day out…
