Hello again everyone, I hope the day finds\nyou well and looking forward at least a tad more positively to the coming\nmonths. In May and June, society will dust itself down and emerge in whatever\nform is deemed safest in each country and that will include football. Welcome\nback to us all and fingers crossed for a successful re-launch of Project\nHumanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the meantime we have today\u2019s piece, the\ntheme of which, as you may have guessed from the title, is forgiveness. In\nthese difficult times it is more futile than ever to harbour old resentments.\nWiser to let them go, though few people in my experience hold grudges better\nthan your average football fan. This is of course an Arsenal blog, and\ntherefore I shall endeavor to forgive those who have annoyed me by slighting\nour bold and pure Arsenal men down the years. A tenuous thread you may think,\ngossamer was to be honest my own thought, but a thread it is and that\u2019s good\nenough for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The title, I should clarify, is a reference\nto the 1992 Oscar winning Western. A hugely enjoyable film, in which Clint\nfaces many difficulties and solves them by killing most everyone who disagrees\nwith him, it was honoured possibly for the extra time an unusually reflective\nClint devoted to mulling things over. Not much forgiveness there I wean, but it\nalso contained the usual quota of memorable lines, one of which \u201cdeserves got\nnothing to do with it\u201d , as Clint kindly reassures Gene Hackman before he blows\nhim away, is central to this post. \nAlthough another memorable line \u201cwho\u2019s the fella owns this shithole?\u201d did\nstrike me as very useful for the travelling faithful at the turnstiles on away\ndays, but I digress. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Unforgiven XI<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Deserve often does have nothing to do with\nit in football, be that results on the field or recognition off it. As personally\nI have no wish to blow anyone away, or at home come to that, I would instead\nlike to offer some absolution using the pen not the colt and an Arsenal XI made\nup of players who, in my personal opinion, have been unfairly served by\nsupporters, managers or the media. For some, especially in the 70s and 80s that\nwas reflected in a lack of international caps, for others it was events off the\npitch or the unforgiveable sin of playing in an unsuccessful side. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The one clear criteria for selection in the\nUnforgiven XI is that I saw them play, which means post 1970 as the first game\nI remember is the 1971 Cup Final. To my Dad\u2019s annoyance he couldn\u2019t get a\nticket for that final although he\u2019d been a regular for many years by then, but to\nme it actually meant the purchase of our first colour TV. If I am honest it is\nprobably my 6 year-old sense of wonder at the glorious colour rather than the\nfootball that has ensured the memory is still so strong after all these years. Whatever\nit was, we won the cup and I was hooked! The very next day my Mum delivered the\nfirst disappointment of my football life when she forbade a trip to SHL on the\nflimsy grounds of it being too dangerous for a 6 year old. Dad did have tickets\nfor that one (I found his ticket stub amongst his prized possessions a couple\nof years ago when he passed and am looking at it as I write, it is an evocative\naide memoire and if I may be permitted another digression, exactly the sort of\nmemento I\u2019d like to leave my own kids one day as it is priceless to me), and the\ndouble was duly delivered. We\u2019d won 2 trophies in my first 3 days as a\nsupporter. Talk about jumping on the bandwagon. To be fair to my Mum, she also\nstopped a trip with my Dad to Hillsborough for a cup semi-final two years later\nwith the same ageist nonsense. That loss to Sunderland, was, in retrospect, a\nkind of ending for many of my first team of Arsenal heroes, but then again not\ngoing probably spared me a fair degree of trauma based on Dad\u2019s choleric report\nof events. All this is not in fact completely off the point as the first love\nis the deepest and hopefully offers some clue as to why several of that team\nwill feature in the XI. I\u2019ve held some of these grudges for a long time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Next year will be my golden anniversary as\na Gooner (a league title would be a nice gift Mikel) and in all those long\nyears the spuds haven\u2019t won the league (see clock to the right) and I have\nwatched some amazing players \u2013 George, Brady, Seaman, Adams, Wright, Bergkamp,\nPires, Vieira, Henry to name a few \u2013 but the XI below will include none of\nthem. In fact I have never tried to make a greatest Arsenal XI as I find it too\ndifficult to compare players across eras and brilliant is brilliant as far I am\nconcerned, I\u2019m just happy to have watched any of them play for The Arsenal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Onward to the XI<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I am sure many will disagree on many of the points and you are very welcome to your views, I honestly look forward to reading them all. However, this is about releasing my own personal and sometimes I must admit petty resentments on a brief trip through the years so without further ado the side is named firstly in full below – for the benefit of those who want to skip straight to the selections they find most baffling!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rimmer Jimmy Rimmer<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rimmer was well liked by supporters and Player of the Year in 1975. He played in a side that finished in 16th<\/sup>, 17th<\/sup> and 8th<\/sup> over his 3 seasons before being let go when we signed Pat Jennings. He moved to Villa where he won League and European Cup medals. A good career and so why is he in the team? I still think Rimmer saved us from relegation in his first two seasons, he was outstanding behind a creaky defence in a generally dire team and I loved watching him. He would I believe be rated far higher by supporters if he\u2019d played in a better Arsenal side. Personally, I rate only Seamen as clearly better for Arsenal among all the keepers I\u2019ve seen, but I finally accept that other supporters who think Lukic was better are not actually insane and forgive them all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Pat\nRice<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A shoo in for the Arsenal Hall of Fame if\nwe had one. Rice won multiple honours as a player, captain and coach at\nArsenal. What possible grudge could there be? In 1978 we played Ipswich in the\nFA Cup Final and lost 1-0, deservedly so to be honest. In the build-up to the\ngame there had been much press attention given to Clive Woods as the Ipswich\ndangerman, To be fair Woods had been having a good season and was a tricky left\nwinger. In the game itself I thought that Rice played him well, in general limiting\nhis crosses and his threat. The commentator however kept right to the press\nnarrative and endlessly referenced the torrid time Rice was having. Total\nnonsense and very annoying. Why do commentators do this? In this case, I\nunderstand now that many are simply jealous of The Arsenal because we are\nbetter than them. Therefore, I forgive the disrespect to the great Pat Rice and\nrecognize it was just jealousy and littleness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Peter\nSimpson<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Simpson was another player widely\nappreciated at Arsenal and player of the year in1969.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My Dad\u2019s strongly held, but possibly highly\nsubjective, opinion that all Arsenal fans knew he was better than Bobby Moore around\nthe seasons we won the double tells you I think that he was a classy, cultured\ncentre-half. A great fit with McLintock, I saw him struggle at times in his\nlater seasons with let\u2019s say, less able CB partners, but he was still an\nArsenal man and a class player for many seasons. He is in this team because he\ndid not play for England and Jeff Blockley did. I think some of you will have\nseen both play for The Arsenal and I hope we can all agree that is an\nastonishing injustice. Talk about unforgiven, that is nigh on unforgivable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thomas\nVermaelen<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Verminator made an instant impact in\nhis first half-season after his transfer from Ajax and was widely seen as our\nnext great centre-back. Things did not go to plan after that and we eventually\nsold him to Barcelona (for a profit, the mugs!). He is I believe not far down\nthe road from me in Kobe right now. I liked watching his whole-hearted approach\nbut he is in this team because at the end of a season when the Arsenal coaches\nsat down and looked at the goals we conceded over that season they concluded\nthat Vermaelen was culpable for something like 60% of them. That is all fair\nand proper of course and we were woeful defensively at the time. Later that\nconclusion was leaked to the press to my huge annoyance. As an ex-HR guy, that\nis just unprofessional and unacceptable. However, 8 or 9 years later I will\naccept that these things happen and let it go. Actually, TV5 might not be a bad\nfit with Simpson at CB !<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bob\nMcNab<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Bob McNab\nwas another important player in the first double side, good in the tackle,\npositionally clever and formed a strong left-hand side for us with Armstrong.\nHe also, long before Charlie Nicholas, turned down Liverpool to join The\nArsenal, so a man of impeccable judgment. If you ever stood on his wing at\nHighbury, you would have heard he was fairly vocal too. Another who was\nunfathomably unfashionable for England, 4 caps for a man whose only possible\nrival for a left back spot was Terry Cooper and yet he did not go to Mexico for\nthe World Cup (actually I am cheating a bit here as that was 1970 and I only\nlearned about it 2 or 3 years later). Ridiculous, but I will remember it\nwholesale later in this article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stewart\nRobson<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1982 I went to watch us in an away game\nat Forest who still had a fair side at the time. In the first half we produced\nthe worst 45 minutes I had seen us play at the time and were deservedly, if\nmemory serves, 3-0 down by half time. An 18-year-old Stewart Robson was the\nsingle redeeming feature of that afternoon, he was everywhere that day and put\nmany of our more seasoned players to shame (though some of them had none actually).\nI would have put good money on him being an Arsenal great and England stalwart\nfor many years. Sadly injuries intervened and though he was Player of the Year\nin 1985, he was never fit for long enough. I have no idea of the rights and\nwrongs of his bitter relationship with the club since his time at Arsenal TV and\nactually don\u2019t care, but I hope the future holds some mutual forgiveness and I\ncan read about what a player he already was at 18 rather than his anger at the\nclub and AW. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Paul\nDavis<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1988 Paul Davis became the centre of a\nmedia storm when he broke the Southampton player Glenn Cockerill\u2019s jaw with, I\nthink, a well-measured right hook. He was caught on the tv replays and became\nthe first player banned on video evidence. He also missed a place in the\nEngland team and was never selected again. Davis was not a \u2018hard man\u2019 as such\nbut from the abuse heaped on him by the press you would have thought him on the\nMost Wanted list at that time. The hypocrisy of some of the criticism has\nalways infuriated me but in the spirit of goodwill, I accept the assorted\nfootball and some non-football journalists in the press were just nicking a\nliving and I forgive them. Just to add, Paul Davis was a pivotal member of the\n90-91 side that only lost once and won many major medals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brian Talbot<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Signed from Ipswich, he forms a midfield\ntrio in our XI with Robson and Davis all of whom played for us in the 80\u2019s,\nthough Talbot signed in 1979 and famously at the time was I think the first\nplayer to win the cup with 2 different teams in consecutive seasons. He is also\nnoted as the last Arsenal player I saw having a beer in the pub after a game\n(The Silver Bullet opposite Finsbury Park station). His place in the team is\ndown to a mate of mine, Freddie, who for some odd reason took a particular\ndislike to Talbot or Ten-touch as he used to call him. Whenever we were at the\ngame together there would always be some slight mistake sooner or later\nfollowed by a loud shout of \u201cffs ten-touch, play the ball\u201d. Freddie, mate he\nwasn\u2019t Liam Brady but he really wasn\u2019t that bad, let it go. Anyway, I forgive\nyou Freddie as we all have our little foibles after all, and years later I\nnever warmed to Limpar, which many have found odd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Frank\nStapleton<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Stapleton is the exception in this side as\nhe is the only player to be forgiven for what he did rather than what was done\nto him. A fine player, though not a prolific goalscorer and by all accounts\nthat I can find a nice fellow. Frank was a man ahead of his time in some ways\nas he went north for a bucketload of cash \u2013 or at least that was how it was\nperceived by all the Arsenal fans at the time. I went to the next few Arsenal\nvs Man Utd matches usually with a couple of Man U fans, we\u2019d go our separate\nways at the gate and then meet again afterwards. Each time they were amazed at the\nhatred for Stapleton as he was roundly abused for large parts of the game. To\nbe honest I had happily joined in the chanting and told them we would never\nforgive Stapleton. Wrongly as it turned out, after all he played more games for\nus and scored more goals than he ever did for ManUre. Anyway, all is forgiven\nFrank and I hope you will forgive us the vitriol, which in hindsight was some\nway over the top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lee Chapman<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n So we come to Lee Chapman, and my own\nforgiveness. Chapman, who we had signed from Stoke, was a bad fit from the\nbeginning and almost nothing went right. He didn\u2019t actually suit our style of\nplay and to this day I have no idea why we signed him although there are\nrumours that it was simply because of a 25-yard screamer he scored against us. Anyway,\nI was sitting in the West Stand for one game and watching us and Chapman in\nparticular struggle in a scrappy game (apologies but I can\u2019t remember who it\nwas against) when we suddenly broke out of defence. The midfield was breaking\nat speed, the crowd sensed a chance, the noise level rose and then the ball was\nswiftly moved out to Chapman on the right, and right in front of me. Sadly, he\ncompletely missed the ball as tried to control it and then fell over. All\naround me in the West Stand the crowd didn\u2019t groan or jeer, they just laughed,\nnot a commiserating, empathic sort of laugh but simple contempt as if it was\nexactly what they\u2019d expected. Chapman looked utterly dejected, like he would\nactually rather be in hell than on that pitch. Chapman\u2019s look is the only thing\nI actually remember from that game and to my shame I had laughed too. Not a\nnice way to have treated a fellow human being and I am sorry Lee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n George\nArmstrong<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There is really no need to write too much\nabout Geordie Armstrong, he is a legend. Like Simpson and McNab he played very\nfew games for England and like them it was scandalous. I have heard the\nsuggestion that Alf Ramsey (an ex-spud) disliked Arsenal and was reluctant to\nselect Arsenal players. I have no idea if that is true, to be honest it seems\nunlikely, but it is also difficult to see why so few were chosen even in\nhindsight. Perhaps less so in Armstrong\u2019s case as England often played without\nrecognized wingers at that time. As sadly Sir Alf has passed away he is in no\nneed of my forgiveness and so I will finish by forgiving the FA for not\nstepping-in and having a word. The FA may feel they are innocent in the matter\nbut as James Coburn told Anthony Quinn at the end of A High Wind in Jamaica\n\u201cthink of all the things you weren\u2019t caught for\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I haven\u2019t chosen a manager but it would be\nBertie Mee as the Arsenal board broke my 10-year-old heart when they fired him.\nHonourable mentions to Lichsteiner, Feo, Ozil, the great Tony Adams, in fact\nall of the famous five (where are the knighthoods?) and of course the\nincomparable Flamini, who have all suffered unjustly down the years but for\nvarious reasons could not be included. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And so there you have it, my journey of\nforgiveness is done. I hope if you have made it this far it provided some\namusement, food for thought and reminders of times past. To err is human but to\nforgive is divine, and as we have seen it is certainly raining men to forgive.\nLet it go everyone, it\u2019s easy and you\u2019ll feel better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, it is possible we will have some\nreal, actual football news to report early next week so please keep \u2018em peeled on\nthis site and best wishes to you all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hello again everyone, I hope the day finds you well and looking forward at least a tad more positively to the coming months. In May and June, society will dust itself down and emerge in whatever form is deemed safest in each country and that will include football. Welcome back to us all and fingers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=812"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":828,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812\/revisions\/828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Rice Simpson Vermaelen McNab
Robson Davis Talbot Armstrong
Stapleton Chapman
<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n