february 16th
So I went along to Camp Nou last night to see the Ronaldinho XI take on the Shevchenko XI to raise money for victims of the tsunami. Not much of a game really, Beckham got whistled at every time he got the ball,, there were some nice goals and we saw Thierry Henry for 20 minuntes but apart from that it was pretty lame. Arsene Wenger appeared on the big screen once and seemed to be deep in conversation with Marcello Lippi and not watching the match at all. Can’t say I blame him. I won’t even comment on the irony of the crowd doing the Mexican wave.
Paul Merson has labelled Arsenal a ‘disgrace’ for not having any English players in the squad that beat Crystal Palace the other night while former youngster Liam Chilvers says Arsene Wenger played sub-par foreign players ahead of young English players. Without any analysis you might be tempted to think he has a point – he cites Stathis Tavlaridis as an example – but when you look and see Chilvers playing for Northampton whle Tavlaridis plays in the French 1st division then maybe you have to consider the fact that these guys might not have been the best players ever but they were better than the English equivalents at the time. There aren’t too many English players who have left Arsenal to go on a have a decent career at the top level – Steve Sidwell is doing very well at Reading but that’s first division or championship or whatever that’s called now. Upson is at Birmingham along with Jermaine Pennant who did everything he could to banjax his Arsenal career, Jerome Thomas and Julian Gray are at mid-table clubs in Charlton and Birmingham but apart from that who is there? Where’s Stephen Hughes or Rohan Ricketts or any of the others? I remember Ricketts being very critical of Arsene Wenger but if he can’t get a game for Spurs what makes him think he’s good enough for us? It seems to me the main bulk of the criticism is that this will negatively impact on the English national team so it’s another storm in a tea-cup from the die-hards who singularly fail to acknowledge that the international game is dying. Club football has overtaken it and is leaving it in its wake. Get used to the idea because a media circus World Cup every four years aside the money is in the club game and that’s where it’s going to stay despite the half-arsed, semi-legal rules that UEFA and FIFA keep trying to bring in.
Liam Brady, Arsenal’s head of youth development, says of UEFA’s proposed new regulations “It is trying to make a level playing field when football has never been like that. We are very committed to youth development for all our young players, whether they are from here or abroad.”
Chairman Peter H-W says “For me, the nationality of any player who plays for the club is not an issue. If you have good enough players then it does not matter from which country they come. The world of football is changing and there are some people who don’t like things to change.”
I don’t think there’s any Arsenal fan who wouldn’t like to see more English players in the squad but I doubt there are many Arsenal fans who think English players should be in the squad just because they’re English. As for Merson, well as a manager who no doubt has to wheel and deal in players, he should be well aware of the problems of signing English players. Any half-decent player costs way more than they’re worth, both in terms of transfer fees and wages. Foreign players are cheaper, technically better, more dilligent in how they live their lives off the pitch – so why wouldn’t a manager choose to sign from abroad rather than pay inflated prices for inferior English products?
In other news John Terry says Chelsea don’t need to sign Ashley Cole as they already have a top class left-back in Wayne Bridge and Arsene Wenger will wait until May before deciding whether or not to offer Dennis Bergkamp a new contract.
And that’s your lot.
