Morning all.
It’s certainly very quiet considering we’ve got a cup final on Saturday, but that should be broken today after Arsene Wenger has his press conference. There’s an ‘open training session’ too, to which I was very kindly offered an invite, but due to geographical issues and the fact I’m not in London till tomorrow I can’t go. You’d have thought they’d take that into account and shift the FA Cup preparations around a bit to suit me, but never mind.
I am hopeful that there’s nothing remotely interesting in terms of the team news. Although Per Mertesacker missed out on Sunday against Norwich he posted a wotsit on Facebook saying it was just the manager giving him a sensible rest ahead of Wembley, and that does make sense considering how much he’s played this season. The only little worry is Thomas Vermaelen who was also absent at Carrow Road, but all going well he’s unlikely to have played anyway, and as we saw Bacary Sagna is capable of filling in if really necessary.
Other than Theo Walcott we seem to have everyone fit. Even Abou Diaby is no longer on the list so we’re going into this game in particularly good shape. Anyway, we’ll hear more from the manager throughout the day and if we can bring you some extra insight we’ll do that over on Arseblog News.
One thing I have noticed this week is that in all the preparation for this weekend – and I’m having to get lots done early in the week because of the impending festivities in London – is just how indelible the memories left by the FA Cup are. From speaking to people for this week’s podcast, if you’re of a certain vintage, then the cup was just about the only live football we got on television apart from the World Cup and thus it remains lodged in the brain all these years later.
So while nowadays the ubiquity of live football means what happens on cup final day is easily forgotten, it certainly wasn’t the case back then. Even the finals that didn’t involve Arsenal were memorable. 1982 when it went to extra time between Sp*rs and QPR and Sp*rs thought they’d won it with a late goal but QPR equalised (they did win the replay though, boooo!).
1983 when Brighton should have won against United and got pummeled in the replay; 1984 when Everton beat Elton John; Kevin Moran becoming the first player sent off in a cup final in 1985; and the outright hilarity of an injury time Gary Mabbut own goal as Coventry beat Sp*rs in 1987. That still remains one of the funniest things I have ever seen.
Even in 1980, when we lost to 2nd division West Ham and that stupid goal by stupid Trevor Brooking, the final provided a great moment from an Arsenal point of view. I’m talking, of course, about Willie Young’s tackle on Paul Allen. In the video below I have to take exception to the fact that Young is referred to as a ‘typical clodhopping Arsenal defender’.
Ok, maybe he wasn’t the most graceful of players, but how can we not look back now and ignore the fact that the man was a kind of seer? Who did he bring down again? That’s right, Paul Allen. Who is Paul Allen? Apart from being a supposedly ‘innocent’ 17 year old on cup final day he was then, and remains, a cousin of Clive Allen.
Who is Clive Allen again? You might have forgotten and that’s understandable, because in this busy world of ours it’s difficult to recall people who genuinely don’t matter, but if you have a long memory you’ll remember he was a striker that Arsenal bought from QPR in the summer of 1980 for a whopping £1.25m. He arrived at Highbury and – I’m just guessing here – people saw what a woolly headed wankbucket of a man he was, so we immediately swapped him for Crystal Palace’s Kenny Sansom before he’d even played a game for us.
In his latter years he became an integral part of Harry Redknapp’s backroom staff at Sp*rs. And by integral, I mean he was the bloke who picked up with the wet towels off the dressing room floor and chewed on discarded corn plasters for sustenance. He is also a very angry man. Look at him, look how furious he is:
He’s angry because Arsene Wenger didn’t shake his hand, believing that the manager had shown him disrespect for he, Clive Allen, is super-important. But this is the equivalent of Vic Akers become incandescent with rage because Sp*rs reserve coach driver – not even at the game but sitting at home in his underpants picking goo out of his belly button in a room where even the carpet his nits – wouldn’t give him a high five.
“Grrrrrr”, went Clive Allen that day before going to the papers to complain about how Arsene Wenger was a meanie and “two bob”.
Arsene Wenger didn’t pay any real attention because … well, why the hell would you? But this brings me back to my initial point about Willie Young who didn’t just commit a pretty awesome foul – let’s all admit that now. Cynical? Yes. Sliding? Yes? Preventing an almost certain goal? Yes. On the big stage? Yes. Made someone cry? YES! Let’s leave aside how many of the boxes it ticks for foul of the century, but Willie could sense something from Paul Allen that day.
It was the stench of Clive. Our red-headed cavalier didn’t just trip up Paul because of circumstance, he knew of this most gruesome of family connections and what a contemptible, angry man cousin Clive would become and launched a pre-emptive strike at the entire family.
A clodhopper? The man was a damned genius and even though we didn’t win that final, there should be a statue or a path into the ground to commemorate his bravery and nobility in the cause of Arsenal. Come on club, can we have a Willie Way that leads to the stadium?
Anyway, here’s the moment in all its soothsaying glory.
Right, I have about a bazillion things to do today, so it’s time for some bacon fuel. Check out part 2 of Tim Stillman’s FA Cup finals review here.
Happy professional fouling people. Till tomorrow.
