I had a superb comment on my blog today that mirrored my own thoughts, almost exactly to the word.
I wasn't going to write this but after reading the comment I felt I had too. My mind was made up after arguing my point with a Spud I work with all day! Some might not understand but I'm sure most will, especially Gooners.
Cast your mind back to last season. Arsenal were drawn against Manchester United in the FA Cup and Arsene Wenger fielded an almost reserve side. We were hammered and deservingly so, but we wasn't as hammered on the pitch as much as Arsene Wenger was in the aftermath to the game.
Every pundit and newspaper couldn't wait to have a pop at Arsene Wenger for fielding an understrength side. So how come we haven't seen the same with Harry Redknapp?
For the FA Cup game with United at the weekend Redknapp has admitted he will play the weakest team he can find because that's how it has to be. I'm sorry but the Spuds might as well not bother turning up!
Where is all the criticism for Harry Redknapp? I suppose he is immune to it from the media because his son is in the game and Harry is such a nice chap.
Maybe it goes deeper than that. Maybe because he is an Englishman he is exempt from being criticised and the horrible foreign lot at Arsenal, who are ruining the English game by the way, deserve to be shot at at every opportunity there is.
From my knowledge Arsene Wenger has never ducked a press conference and always tries to answer a journalist's question. Yet despite all this the media cannot wait to dig the knife into his back, as deep as possible.
In the past Harry Redknapp has shown himself to be treacherous, especially to Portsmouth, and he never seems to receive any negative press. He even contridicted himself by saying he inherited a great squad at Tottenham, when they were doing well, and now he says that are not good enough because he is struggling and being found out!
Arsene Wenger on the other hand has been loyal to Arsenal and his methods have helped revolutionise the English game. Despite this he is probably the first manager in the Premiership to receive any negativity from the English media.
Perhaps Arsene Wenger should throw a strop, like Alex Ferguson has many a time, and refuse to talk to the media. Perhaps he should perfect a cheeky cockney accent and then maybe he will get the same treatment as the little darling Harry Redknapp.
It's xenophobic, plain and simple and this little Englander attitude most of us have is a reason that England are shit as international level. The more we bum-lick the likes of Harry Redknapp the longer England will suffer at the highest level.
So can anyone tell me why this hasn't been picked up by the media? Whats the difference between Wenger and Redknapp?
I think its because Harry Redknapp is an Englishman.
Keep it Goonerish............
35 comments:
Great point.
The way Wenger is treated has been unfair for years.
As has the treatment of Vieira, Pires in the past.
How many bookings did Vieira recieve for having a go at refs? (years before the so called respect the ref campaign) where Rooney is allowed to do as he pleases week in week out
Pires was always ridiculed as a serial diver, but the hacks always overlook the superb dives of englishmen such as Rooney, (his best of which ended arsenals 49 game unbeaten run) ,Gerrard and Owen alike.
Lets hope wilshere gets his chance and the media tide turns in arsenals favour.
Again you mesmerise us with your insight.
cheers Wrighty good read
while I think there is definitely some media and country and bias - you cant ignore the fact that tottenham is tied points wise in last...yes LAST (tehehhehe) place. they are not in contention for anything else. their sole purpose right now is to stay in the top flight and win the carling cup. thats all they've got.
for arsenal, we were in CLOSE contention for EVERY single major trophy up til that point. why throw away the FA cup, kill our momentum and embarass ourselves?
for tottenham, even if they fielded their best side they are still expected to lose whereas if we had fielded our best side, we had an even chance to get a result.
pretty big dichotomy there but like i said, redknapp DOES get better treatment than Wenger. i just dont know that this is the situation that cements that fact
Great article, we gooners are use to it really. i agree with the part where you mentioned that wenger shld refuse to talk to the media. but you know what he's gonna get the next day : wenger the whinger, blah blah blah. he'll nvr hear the last of it. when SAF does it, it's called 'brave',typical courageous SAF and making a stand.
The xenophobia in football here is quite disgusting. You only have to listen to Graham Poll's comments about thinking twice when booking John Terry to know that officials, pundits and press are bordering on racism. Would Patrick Vieira have gotten away with the tackles of Paul Scholes or Steven Gerrard? Or the repulsive referee abuse and disrespect by Wayne Rooney?
Wenger should be heralded as the man who SAVED English football, his revolutionary techniques pushed the English league into a new stratosphere. People laughed at his training techniques and dietary/alcohol restrictions - even by those at the club like Tony Adams who in his words said "I'm Off!" at Wenger's arrival.
The press praised Harry Redknapp's transformation of Spurs to a ridiculous level - despite the FACT that Harry's regime has actually had a WORST start than Ramos's did when he arrived.
Bottom line - F*** 'Arry and F*** the Racists!
Harry Redknapp is a c**t, Sky won't criticise him 'cos his son works for them (he is a c**p commentator), and the press won't criticise him 'cos he feeds them stuff, and also writes for the Sun (he's one of them) and also maybe some of the journalists secretly have the hots for Louise since her singing days. And yes, he's Enger-lish...who manages a a team with "good, young, english players", isn't this the same Harry that couldn't wait to stick it into Don Fabio (the man who's who won more things than Harry can dream of), but now Fabio has got it right, and Harry's legged it.
Wenger only got the stick last year as we had a decent chance of winning the FA Cup, Harry wont get slated as in all honesty what chance have them twats got of winning the FA Cup.
football is fixed.com blog .your questions may be answered. check older posts on harry and arsenal. you will see why arsenal are in the predicament they are in. its time to stop blaming wenger and ourselves as fans and understand the truth.
wrighty, not sure what's happening here, but i find myself agreeing with you more & more!
Great point mate.
Haha, I'm not that bad mate!
Wrighty7, Thanks for posting this as its time that we acknowledged what I can only describe as the rancid smell of racism which permeates many aspects of the beautiful game. The Arsenal have a history of playing foreigners (providing we include the Irish as foreigners), and in recent times have on occasion fielded sides which have no English players at all,therefore we are not really surprised that the club are at times ridiculed and unfairly treated by all and sundry.
Some truth, but then every fan thinks their club/manager is being picked on.
Wrighty, I applaud your post. A fantastic piece of work. You should do a MacIntyre and expose all those racist wankers. You could start off with those two c***s Reilly and Webb.
It frustrates the hell out of me to see such blatant bias in the game.
Indeed, am I alone in thinking that it feels like playing away from home when at home. I guess, its something to do with having a foreign manager and a team full of foreign players.
As for the media, dont get me started. I no longer listen radio stations such as Talk sport because of their xenophobic points of view towards so called foreign football players. Vieira was a fair but combative player and he did not deserve the amount of red cards that were dished out.
Apologies for the rant, but I had to get it off my chest. Cheers again for raising the points.
ozziegooner
You overlook one thing though... Arsene Wenger expected his understrength side to come good against ManU whereas Harry has set the expectations right... he doesn't expect to win. Arsene expected to... its also about what expectations you set in public that give the media a chance to have a dig at you.
AGREE ALLLLLL THE WAY!!! it's been happening for years and to the person that said that we through away the F.A Cup well uummm which one would you want want the F.A Cup or CL/League Title? Please it's not a choice. It's different this season because we're not on top of the league. If risk the players and no we didn't win the title but hey Wenger a amazing guy but he can't tell the future. I'm sure he thought we would win the league like loads of others did.
Wrighty7,
Are you black or French by any chance?
Whilst I sort of agree with most of what you say, the big difference is that Harry is on over-rated spendthrift who has never achieved anything much anywhere. Last year's FA Cup was a bit of a fluke with the big guys knocking themselves out.
Oh and he chose to manage Spuds. Nuff said.
Has any1 noticed the amount of Extra Time we seem 2 play always 4 minutes i sat in a bar full of Villa fans on Boxing day an new it was gonna be 4 minutes b4 he held up the board! A lot of people would like to see Wenger fall.It's all about passports! Nice 1 wrighty!
Absolutely spot on. Redknapp has been a wally for some time now, more concerned with his own reputation than anything else. Things are getting hot for him now at the Spuds and although I thought it would be at least a year before they called for his head I can see it happening sooner. Let's not forget that there is still a Police file open on him either. I can see him and his awful son starring in an Osbourne-type show soon called The Redknapps where they all sit around playing Wii and going on about top, top players in between counting their money.
the best football related article i've read in years. well done. and i hope everyone in england gets a chance to read this.
great points
can i say tho that next time people attack eboue, think about how theo walcott actually plays most matches and ask urself, do i like him more simply cos hes english?
not addressd particularly to wrighty, but to arsenal fans in general who seem to get annoyed when arsenal are discriminated against in the media, seemingly because of all our foreign players, and yet allow the same attitudes to affect their judgement of players - leading to the singling out of individuals on the pitch
Wenger has ducked out of press conferences, or at least one... after his bust up with Alan Pardew, he wouldnt talk to the media for about a week and a half.
But Redknap, in my oppinion is a prick. He's a hot headed, impulsive dick-head. Making comments about his players to the media, saying things that should be kept for the dressing room.
Go on to YouTube and type in Harry Redknapp hit by ball, very funny, but shows you just how much of a bitchy aul prick he is.
i had mentioned something of this sort in an earlier comment..the stick arsenal get from the english media is ridiculous..the headlines unless we win big vary between 'gunners gunned down' and 'gunners almost gunned down'..whereas the others(currently including villa) are praised for their resilience for similar results and lesser ball possession..you can almost read the smirk the writer has reporting an arsenal defeat..i believe its time we got credit for making the english game watchable..i doubt that people around the world would tune in for a chelsea/'pool game..if it were'nt for arsenal all the epl teams would be playing a longball game with an 'old fashioned english' cf..haven't said it in a long time but there's only one arsene wenger..up the arsenal!!
U sound a liitle racially biased my friend...which is very very bad to the game and its fans,and possibly dangerous.It can be clearly seen from the replies youve got claiming racial biasing.It just instigates anger unnecessarily,and worse people falling back on this reason when they dont understand something..its a very very dangerous line mate,even UNINTENTIONALLY instigating anger.
But it was very refreshing to see u open minded to ask for alternative answers.Thats a rare sight.
I feel the answers are very simple-We are Arsenal.A top 4 club.We are expected to go after every title with all seriousness like how Manu Liv n Chelsea go.He let out shorthanded teams coz of injuries,and the team is short of good reserve players coz wenger refuses to buy-even when the cash is available!!!(Unlik the other 3)
Thats what frustrates everyone;many arsenal and even other club fans-why not buy when the money is available(twas before) and the squad is short of depth???And that is what coupled with a top 4 side culminates into a harsh treatment.
When Chelsea, Man Utd or Villa score a late goal they show tremendous spirit and a never-say-die attitude. Exactly the sort of resilience it takes to win titles. Last weekend was the perfect example. Chelsea never gave up. Man Utd showed "once again" why you can never write them off. Arsenal score two goals around the 80th minute at Hull on possibly the worst night (weather-wise) of the year and guess what. They are lucky.
Chris, well said mate, I said the same thing just last week.
I am neither French nor black.
I am a 26 year old white male.
Why do you ask?
We are a small island race with a big chip on our shoulders. We have the Imperialist past hangin round our necks like a stone, we have people who still think we are a major world force, when we are nothing of the sort, FFS! We produce noting in this country apart from WAGS and D list celebs! We have a natural superior attitiuded even tho we have relied on others from far away countries for years.
We are institutionally racist, in aint just the Police, its everywhere; the media, tabloids Sky every effin where.
Of course Redknapp and English managers/players in general get benefitcial treatment by match officials and the media alike compared to foreign players and managers.
Sad but true.
But... I have a dream....
I think VJ's a twat ...why not read the post and see wrighty is getting at...as an englishman I am ashamed of the attitude of the media towards arsenal...
There is no doubt about the favouritism of the english blokes and overt criticism of foreigners and unfortunately the comments about Eboue and walcott are sadly true...
VJ stop trying to be unduely objective the critisms of AW is not because he refused to buy players...its a problem in this country there is always a reasonable explanation and excuse that justifies the exclusion and marginalisation of minority groups...
7:25am
ARSHAVIN SIGNS FOR ARSENAL!
No.19 SHIRT!
£14.2m
Will be announced at about 5pm.
and what do you plan to give jacky boy..jeez things people do for attention..
don't underestimate Redknapp. With his experience, he knows exactly what he's doing; will be interesting to see who plays (starting or subs) and what the results is.
Whilst I'm fairly certain that Spurs will escape relegation this season and I'm sure that Harry Redknapp is a good football manager in many ways, his man-management skills and ego-centric approach to dealing with defeat has caused him problems before.
Back in 2005 as manager of Southampton he seemed more concerned with his own reputation than the Saints' efforts to avoid relegation - constantly harping about the poor standard of the players he'd inherited (commenting after a 4-1 defeat to Pompey, "We've got a big squad, and quite a few of the players are not good enough in all honesty. The staff needs pruning and we need a bit more quality in.") Back then it seemed as though Harry was keen to reinforce the idea that he'd inherited a terrible side and should they be relegated then it couldn't possibly be his fault - in other words he was protecting his reputation at the expense of his side's chances - how to motivate yourself as a player when your manager continues to question whether you're good enough to stay up?
Sound familiar? This season Harry must have thought he was onto a winner with a Spurs side packed with quality and in a false position at the bottom of the league. Since his relatively lucky start - the draw with Arsenal and the win against Liverpool - things have changed and again Harry's taken to protecting his reputation at the expense of his players' flagging confidence. I fail to see how complaining that your players lack character and aren't good enough, that the transfer policy has left you with a poor 'mish-mash' squad of players, and that your keeper will have to play against Manchester United (despite not being good enough) is going to help Spurs improve results.
In effect, Redknapp's up to his old tricks - effectively saying "it's not my fault, these players are hopeless". That's what I'd call a self-fulfilling prophecy and the man should rise above all that and concentrate on making his players feel like they can win games again - they're certainly good enough to. In short, Redknapp should spend less time worrying about what his reputation will look like and more time concerning himself with his playing staff and Spurs' fans.
If Spurs do go down, and Southampton go bust a friend of mine reckons that on top of winning the FA Cup last year (he's a Pompey man) he could effectively retire from being a football fan since every conceivable dream will have been achieved. An amusing idea indeed.
You are right Wrighty. Even an Englishman at Arsenal are ill treated by media. Last time, we had the best English keeper (David Seaman) and they say he is not good enough. He should be behind the pecking order of David James, Nigel Martyn and Paul Robinson. We have Theo Walcott now, they say he didn't good enough for England, until he score hattrick against croatia. Arsenal will never get a good treat. No matter they are English or not.
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