Kevin Whitcher
2017. New year, fresh impetus. This website relies a little too heavily on external contributions to have a fresh post every day. Three or four years ago, this wasn’t such a problem. People had more to say. However, a feeling that nothing much is changing at the club has meant a decrease in submissions, because a lot of the time, the Groundhog Day feeling means it’s all been said before. There doesn’t tend to be too much change in the good and bad of Arsenal. Some enjoyable wins, some good football, some disappointing defeats. Getting close, but never quite close enough. Being tactically outdone. Key injuries meaning the squad is never quite good enough to challenge credibly for anything but the FA Cup.
So I am going to try and write more often myself just to see how it goes. Sometimes the entries may be fairly short, time being the enemy and all that.
Anyway, today, there is a new issue of The Gooner on sale. Due to Christmas, we went to press after the two defeats at Goodison Park and Eastlands, when question marks about the team’s motivation were foremost on the minds of many fans. It was a struggle to put anything Arsenal related on the cover at the time that didn’t feel like doom and gloom, and we eventually settled with the idea of the pipe dream of an Arsenal side managed by Diego Simeone, because his team represents something that seemed very lacking in the performances at Everton and Manchester City.
Of course, it’s not going to happen. We completely get that. He has himself expressed that his next move will be to the other European country where he has played, Italy. He doesn’t speak any English (although that wasn't a barrier when Southampton employed Mauricio Pochettino), and he is unproven in Europe outside the league he is currently working in (Antonio Conte?). Anyway, first and foremost is the man’s own desire to work elsewhere.
However, it is interesting to see some of the resistance to the idea. When we tweeted the front cover on Twitter, a couple of the responses were: “So we mock Mourinho and Pulis for their style of football and you want Simeone as our next manager? #deluded” and “He'd stink the place out, not wanted thanks”.
I don’t know the age of the tweeters, but I wonder, assuming they were old enough, what they made of Arsenal’s 1993-94 European Cup Winners’ Cup campaign, or even the run to the 2006 Champions League final. Sure, the aesthetic of the football wasn’t Barcelona under Pep Guardiola, or Wenger’s Invincibles, but some of those narrow wins and low scoring draws are looked back upon as some of the greatest nights in the club’s history. Because football is about glory above all. Manchester United ‘stunk the place out’ in the Nou Camp winning the 1999 European Cup. Do you ever hear any United fans complaining about it. Did any Gooners not celebrate the 2005 FA Cup Final win against United because of how poor the entertainment offered up by Wenger’s side that day was?
In fact, as well as having a spirit and a defensive nous (I’d love Godin to come to Arsenal and lead the team for a season), Atletico are actually playing more expansive football this season. But that’s a side point. The reason we posited the idea of Simeone as a manager at Arsenal was simply because he embodies elements that seems to be lacking at the moment – namely spirit and resilience. Hate to say this, but to me these things can currently be seen in spades across town at Stamford Bridge. Interesting to see what (more or less) the same group of players can achieve with a change of manager. Contrast Chelsea on New Year’s Day 2017 with this time last year.
The other thing about a figure like Simeone (and Klopp and Conte) is that their sheer passion motivates the crowd. I used to love it when George Graham would stick up for us. Arsene Wenger, I am afraid, resembles a bit of a wet fish these days, and in too many games, that sometimes seems to transmit to the team.
So agreed, Simeone isn’t going to come to Arsenal, but putting forward the idea of him is just an expression that, to older fans, who remember a time before Arsene, too often, this does not feel like the football club we knew and loved when we were growing up.
Everyone is entitled to an opinion, and fanzines are not written from the same place as the club programme.
A housekeeping point to finish. The more submissions we get, the less of my ramblings you will have to suffer. So if you do have something you want to say – pro or anti whatever – and can knock out 500 words, the Gooner (as the printed issue and this website demonstrates) is an open church. Email any contributions to us at the email address [email protected]. If you write regular stuff of quality, you will get a profile and it can lead to other things.
And don’t forget, there is a free 2017 ‘12 Arsenal Legends from the Arsene Wenger Era’ calendar with the new issue, which costs £3 from our sellers on your approach to the stadium. Help your fanzine survive by buying a copy!
The new issue of The Gooner can be bought online for £4.00 including postage here if you can’t make it to any home or away matches.
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