First
of, I must apologise for not updating this blog for some time now. I’ve been
busy at work and also doing research for my upcoming trips. A lot has happened
since, both in the local scene and abroad of course but I’m not going to cover
them.
But
the news that broke last Friday, 20 April 2018, was somewhat shocking. Yes, a
lot of us have wanted change for some time now. Football and especially Arsenal
have become stale of late. I no longer find myself watching them and instead
have been consciously watching something else or reading. But as much as I want
change, I didn’t understand and hated the abuse hurled to Arsène. Sure, he can be
frustrating with his beliefs, principles, stubbornness and insistence, but he
never deserved the abuse. In fact, he never hid from his responsibilities, even
in the face of the tasteless banners. He answered difficult painful questions
and he defended his players. In short, he never ever shirked from his
responsibilities, no matter how unpleasant it has become. You’ve got to either have
very thick skin, very strong beliefs and principles, or love for the club to
keep on doing what he’s been doing. I suspect he has all of those. Even I can’t
bear watching the team play of late so obviously I’m so much more a worse fan
than Arsène is. As Amy put it, maybe he finds it upsetting to see the values he
has tried to build are the subject of mockery and abuse. Maybe he was pushed
into leaving by the Board or Ivan, maybe he’s had enough. But one thing for
sure, he is professional about it all, preferring to focus on the here and now.
I’m
sure you’ve read most of the articles and seen the clips about him by now so I’m
not going to do that here. I’m just sad that the era is ending. 22 years is a
long time, for some, longer than their own life span and the club/team can’t
just have a brand new start without his influences still playing a big role.
I
do hope the club will do a lot of serious thinking about his successor. He has
extra latge shoes to fill after all.
Merci beaucoup, Arsène. Farewell, our dear Professor. You will be sorely missed.
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