If
(a) Arsenal win 2-1 at St James’ Park;
(b) Chelsea draw 0-0 at the Bridge against the Toffees on the final day,
Both teams will be identical on (a) points (b) GD (c) goals scored (d) goals conceded.
and there could be a playoff to decide on third place.
Would not happen, surely. But in the realms of possibility. Interesting.
Stat courtesy F365.
Read this article, superbly well said.
Also, there is this superb comment by MirandaC, which needs re-posting. So here goes.
If England are threadbare at higher level it isn’t the fault of the top Premiership clubs whose academies are providing a footballing education second to none, as shown by the fact that three of the semi-finalists in this year’s NextGen, the under-19s CL, are English: Chelsea, Arsenal and Villa – the first two of which are all to often unthinkingly blamed for depriving young British talent of its rightful chance.
In fact almost a hundred percent of the intake into those clubs’ academies at age 9-10 is local. The question to ask, therefore, is why so many of those local kids who get to enjoy coaching and facilities that are the envy of the world from their earliest years fail to make it. What’s missing, the talent or the ambition and graft?
Don’t know about other clubs, but at Arsenal in recent years two English kids, Wilshere and Gibbs, who entered the academy at age 9 have made it into the first team; the others, many of whom were considered just as talented initially – e.g. Henri Lansbury and Jay Emmanuel Thomas – did not, reportedly because they fooled about and failed to put in the grind. Of Arsenal’s current Next-Gen first-choice team only three (Chuba Akpom, Isaac Hayden and Nico Yennaris) are English; the remainder are Bulgarian, German, Dutch, Catalan, Swiss … i.e. kids who entered the academy in their mid- teens but who in a couple of years have risen to the top, leaving their English counterparts lagging behind.
It seems unlikely that these foreigners are innately more talented, especially in the case of the Catalans and Germans who, had they clearly been embryo Iniestas and Messis, would surely have been snapped up by Barca and Bayern’s academies rather than exiled to cold, rainy London? It must, then, be the other factor that makes for success: application. Foreign kids are putting in the effort and making better use of the coaching and facilities than the locals who’ve enjoyed them from their earliest years.
Since being lousy at football isn’t built into the English gene pool, and since there’s no lack of opportunities provided by top Premiership clubs, that leaves us with the culture at large. More precisely it leaves us with the football media.
Instead of giving NextGen the coverage it deserves, the Guardian has treated us to a series of space-fillers – e.g. that one about England’s Rio hotel. This epitomizes the problem. Youth development, kids’ stuff, who gives a fuck about that? Which clubs are doing an excellent job and deserve applause for their success – that’s Arsenal, Villa and Chelsea - and which clubs are not and deserve to be shamed – that’s City who failed to make it through their NextGen group – does the Guardian give a toss? No, it does not. What it cares about, or imagines its readers care about, is the waterbeds and shopping and security at England’s Rio hotel. Why are we surprised that 13-14-year-old English kids have absorbed our interests and values? We’ve taught them that their little competitions where they get to pit their skills and graft against their contemporaries at Europe’s top clubs are of no importance or interest; still less important was the work that produced their success. What’s important in England is shopping and waterbeds in a luxury hotel already booked for a tournament that England haven’t yet qualified for. English football doesn’t do football, not as such; it just does footballing bling.
The Guardian is quasi-left-lib, and sometimes does not remain my cup of tea; but the comments are often amazing! Here’s one.
And this warms the heart.
The non-flying Dutchman, the sole reason for my Arsenal fandom, will find his rightful place in front of the Emirates.
This comes from a comment on the Guardian website on the match between my team, Arsenal, and Man City.
A famous line of banter especially thrown against nouveau-riche clubs like Man City, is “Where were you when you were shit”.. because many of the fans of Man City and Chelsea and the ilk have been drawn in recently. The wins follow the money, always, in sport.
Here’s a rebuttal. And a fair one, I suppose.
Was disappointed to hear Arsenal fans come out with the pathetic “where were you when you were sh**t?” chant. Why are so many away fans who come to the Etihad so ignorant?
The one thing you can never accuse City fans of is being fair weather fans. Almost 30k a game in the 3rd division, huge away support at York, Grimsby, Gillingham, Wrexham etc, as bad as it got the fans never deserted them. First season at the Etihad 2003-04 average attendance 46,834. Pearce drove it down to 40,000 with his infamous 10 goals in 19 home games season but every other season its been above 42,000. There are few if any more loyal fans in the country so please stop this ridiculous chant that only highlights your ignorance.
Here’s as an Arsenal fan. Cheers.
You know the greatness of the scene? It is pure…. and that’s what football does to you, it gets your purest, rawest emotions out.
Did Arshavin’s moment , day-before-yesterday*, come close? It came close, yes. But it was not the same thing.
We, the long-suffering Arsenal fans need another Anfield 1989 moment…
Maybe this is the time…
And here’s how it is going: via Matt Slater at the BBC Football Blog.
…. It has been done with the full support of the club’s board – and even the major shareholders not on the board. AST has been able to convince everybody that a bigger say for “real fans” does not mean a storming of the barricades.
It is this attitude that has attracted praise for Arsenal and its Fanshare from interested onlookers, such as the Sports Minister Hugh Robertson and Uefa chief Michel Platini.
It is also why MPs sitting on the parliamentary select committee hearings into football governance went to the Emirates last week for their first fact-finding mission.
They met AST representatives, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and chief executive Ivan Gazidis, wanting to know how other teams could replicate this consensual approach – no easy task when so many club boards seem to be at war with their fans.
I haven’t checked. Are we, as foreign nationals, allowed to buy Fanshares? If yes, I would certainly like to buy a few. Would I have enough stakes to turn the tide – if at any point in time in the future a tide needs to be turned*? Not really, I don’t see a Barca-like thing happening. But will I have a voice, a say? Yes I will.
* May I pass some kudos in the direction of Ivan Gazidis? Superb work behind the scenes… for a while now.
JD (Irish Gooners), Koscielny is five months into his first season in English football. Where was Evra in his fifth month in English football? Where was Vidic? Right, exactly where Koscielny is right now.
Are you a ManU fan? Because this is exactly how they moaned about Evra and Vidic then.
Third paragraph. Grow up.
Jaxx [{()}] B
Sensational comment at the Guardian comments section.
Arsene is still around….and he is plying his trade in a brand new spanking stadium and the fans are asking ‘Where is the trophy?’
You are sitting in it, jackass!
I am pretty sure this mail will not be published as this is not drastic, controversial or rabble-rousing. But let me say this nonetheless. To Carl (Please Arsene, please give the armband to Vermaelen), AFC, you surprise me. Comparing the Cesc scenario with the Adebayor scenario is pretty damn ridiculous. Adebayor was not a Man City trainee (or a Manchester born-and-bred), and neither was be brought up as a 16-year-old at Arsenal. Why is it so difficult to understand, Cesc has always mentioned in interviews that he wants to return to Barca someday, and all of us Arsenal fans were kind of okay with the ‘he will return someday, but not soon’ rhetoric. Now who decides if that someday is today? Cesc does of course, not us. (Caveat: All Arsenal can do is decide whether they will sell him, and if yes, at what price)
Now similarly, in all the interviews, Cesc has claimed nothing but admiration for Arsenal, and post-World Cup, he has had only good things to say for our club. I have no doubt that he loves Arsenal, we indeed are the club that brought him up from a young upstart to the best central midfielder in the world. I am similarly sure he loves Barcelona more. Is that the right or wrong thing to do? That’s not for us to decide, really. That’s his call. And I believe the two options that are suggested to him by assorted hacks and fans.. those of a) either tell Barca to f*** off as he is an Arsenal player; or b) Throw a strop and demand a move to Barca, are neither feasible to him as he admires both the clubs. So what does he do? He pretty much shuts up, and would talk to Arsene Wenger this week, not to the media. It’s obvious he has decided that he wants to move, but not at the cost of a detriment to the club that brought him up. I think that is a good thing, and the right thing to do. And I sincerely believe that his discussion will be about how much money is enough for Arsene for Cesc to move next year.
Barca has been despicable (Xavi, especially, shut up already you moron), and if I would have been Cesc, I would have lost some respect for the club. But losing some respect does not mean hating Barca and not wanting to move, it probably just means wishing that they would just sit down and not embarrass him any more (and maybe, in 2011 or maybe 2012 when he lands up there, landing a punch up Xavi’s nose…now that would really be good). But Cesc wants out, and it is the job of the club, and M. Wenger, to ensure that they get fair value for him. and that is 60m. In the summer of 2011. Jack will be ready, and Rambo will be back by then.
Fourth paragraph. I really have made it impossible for you to publish this now, haven’t I?
This was on sms, and not a word-to-word, more like a thought-to-thought :
Friend: WTF ! Fab gone for the season. Billy G gone for the season. Arshavin gone…. what pathetic luck we are having.
Me: I just know Arsenal will win something this season.
Friend: Yes sure, all that we can do is hope.
Me: No dude, believe me, it is destiny. Arsenal win win something this time. It is destiny. It is Slumdog.
Friend: You have gone mad. Next, you will tell me that Dada and KKR win win the IPL.
Me: They will ! Or at least reach the final. Last time, it was Laxman vs Kumble-Dravid. This time it will be Sachin vs Dada.
Friend: What the hell have you been smoking? Are you alright?
