Graham Perry
No nostalgia today. No sentimental recollections. No Arsenal moments, Instead something for today, the here and now, the right now.
Hitherto I have been keen on Vardy for sound soccer reasons. He knows the Premier League. He has scored 29 goals last season. He knows the defenders. He knows the grounds, the pitches, the atmosphere. There maybe an adjustment to playing with Arsenal but no adjustment in terms of his soccer awareness, soccer routine, soccer experience.
His age counts against him for some. He is 29 and will be 30 in either December or January. He is not young. He is not 23 with years ahead. He is “old” in soccer terms with maybe two/three seasons ahead of him. But ranged against him is just three letters – RVP. He went to Man U and in his first year he won them the title. Moved on in season 3. Vardy can do the same.
One other advantage for Vardy is his late entry into the game. Playing quite recently for Halifax and Fleetwood he does not have the luxury of time. He wants success and he wants it now. Like Ian Wright, Vardy came late into the game but the big upside is the enthusiasm and excitement and energy. Wright played with such gusto – such a smile – such energy and we loved it, absolutely loved it. The ripples were wider and stronger. Ian Wright Wright Wright touched us all. Vardy could do the same. At anything under £30m he is value.
So what is the reservation? – what is it that makes me falter, drags me back, tweaks my conscience? It is not his recently married spouse, trouble though she is. No it is the allegation of racism. It worries me.
Now Arsenal is not a political party. We do not sign up to a set of political principles when we came to Highbury or come to the Emirates. We do not have a view on political issues – on the Referendum, on Trump, on immigration. We have our own views and they are just that - our views, private views. Except for one. Racism is the one issue which cuts across the game of football. A problem in society that has big implications for football. Football is not a game played by whites for whites. It is a game played by UK nationals and overseas players – from different origins – from different countries with a rich mix of ethnic, race, religious traditions. We are open not closed.
It has taken time to reach that basis. It was not so long ago that bananas were thrown at John Barnes at Goodison Park and Clyde Best was singled out for boos at Upton Park. Society has come a long way – white superiority has been dismantled, racist attitudes have been confronted, the game is healthier, it reaches out and has achieved much. Still a long way to go. Still too few faces from all of UK society. Some still feel they do not belong. The Kick Out Racism campaign has so much more to do.
So to the question – does the arrival of Vardy hinder the progress to more openness? A few years back I made clear Lee Bowyer was not welcome at AFC. He was found not guilty of a racist infused affray charge but significantly the Judge ordered that his own legal costs – approx £1m – be paid by him and not by the public purse. Bowyer was odious and at a 400 person public meeting I made clear that I would not set foot inside Highbury if he was signed. A line in the sand was drawn. For me racism was too important a principle to allow it to be compromised even for my beloved Arsenal.
Now I have looked into the Vardy “Jap” comment. I have seen the video and read the papers. Although it is not the whole story and one should avoid snap judgments based on incomplete information it is not nice. It looks bad. There is an odour. There is a suspicion that Vardy has racist instincts and that he gives expression to them.
This is not enough to bar him or to insist that Wenger pulls out of transfer discussions. But it is enough for us to require Wenger to raise the issue with him – to make clear that AFC is a racist free zone and there will be no tolerance or racist attitudes or racist expressions or racist links. If AFC play in Japan and Vardy is an Arsenal player he goes and he plays and he respects the host team and the host country.
We are dependent on Wenger to lance this boil. If he continues to want Vardy he needs to do the right thing and the honourable thing. He needs to look him straight in the eye and make clear – No Racism at Arsenal Football Club.
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