Never Say Never...by nellypop

(As my plans to turn this blog into a global media empire are moving forward, I've brought in my first contributor. You can call her nellypop. She's from England and she's an Arsenal season ticket holder so she should have more credibility than I do.  I've known her--virtually--for a few years and I think she's an excellent writer.  By way of introduction, I asked her for two Arsenal facts--favourite player and favourite Arsenal moment and her responses were "Cesc Fabregas and the first of our 5-2 victories over 'them'" but she asked me not to say Cesc because it would spoil the objectivity of the following post. Sorry, no need to self-censor for the sake of objectivity here. So without further ado, here's phase II of this blog, presented without commercial interruption for your edification.)

I’ve known Trey a while, and more often than not we share similar viewpoints on all things Arsenal. However, I couldn’t let his rather strong diatribe on Cesc Fabregas go unanswered, if only to restore an element of balance to the Gooner universe.

I should start by saying that this is not the first time I’ve written about our former captain since he decided to depart for pastures Nou. Indeed, my views are on record and can be read here. The gist of my argument, though, was that my biggest issue with Fabregas’ departure was timing rather than anything else, with Xavi and Iniesta still at the top of their game, and a much larger role still on offer at Arsenal.

He made 212 senior appearances for the club, in an 8 year period during which he led us to the Champions League final and single-handedly hauled us through many a game. In all that time, he never made any pretence that Barcelona was not a dream of his. Trey may argue that his behaviour has been worse than others such as the Dutch Skunk, but ultimately we all understand why he wanted to go play for the hometown club he supported as a boy, not to mention the greatest team in the world (at the time).

The little boy inside...

Van Persie, on the other hand, supported Arsenal as a child and issued a statement in February 2011 saying: “I know you can win trophies in many countries and in many ways, but I want to do that in our way and in an Arsenal shirt. I'm sure I could win things at another team in another country, but would it feel like our trophy, my trophy? I'm not sure it would. Anything we win here will come from the heart and that's what I want.” For me personally, while it hurts that he wanted to leave, the real kick in the face is the barefaced lies that accompanied the whole masquerade. Fabregas may not have been perfect, but at least he was honest. We only have ourselves to blame if we put our fingers in our ears and screamed “la la la” at the tops of our voices, and I fully count myself as one of that number. Van Persie left either for money or for glory (a trait that is much derided in fans), whereas Fabregas left to play for his hometown club. I know which I think is a better reason.

Of course, the typical argument levelled at Fabregas is that he drove down the price paid for him, in a market where Fernando Torres was worth £50m and Andy Carroll £35m. And to confirm this, since he moved in 2011, Fabregas has scored more league goals than both, before we even consider his contribution in terms of assists and so on. There is little doubt that he was ultimately sold for less than his true value, because he only wanted to go to one club.

What you have to factor into this argument, though, is that a player is only worth what the market is prepared to pay for him, and in this case it was a market of one. And the reason for this singular market was that although Barcelona was his first love, Arsenal come a very close second and Fabregas was not leaving because he was done with us. He was leaving because his team were coming calling. I think we can all understand that, even though we don’t like it, because I don’t think for one moment that a single one of us would turn down the opportunity to play for the Arsenal if it arose. For this reason, I don’t think we can blame him for leaving, or for the fact that his price was lower than if benchmarked against players of a similar (lesser!) quality.

We have to remember that Fabregas was contracted to Arsenal until 2015, and Arsène and the board did not have to agree to the sale. If they considered the amount was insufficient, they could have simply hunkered down and benefit from Fabregas’ talent for an additional year. Bearing in mind this was two years ago, I would suggest that with no end to the austerity due we likely felt that we could do with the money, and there was probably an element of negotiation having gone on behind closed doors between Fabregas and the powers that be for a few seasons prior.

We took a route through the initial stadium belt-tightening that relied on developing players and hanging on to them as long as possible to sustain our aspiration to qualify for the Champions League. It doesn’t take a huge leap to imagine that Fabregas remained a year or longer than he would have preferred following persuasion from Arsène. Indeed, we know that Barcelona were tabling bids in 2010 to no avail, and with his last three season yielding just 22, 27 and 25 league appearances, suspicions about his resilience to injury were emerging. Ultimately it was Arsenal’s decision to sell, at whatever price, and the decision was made that the move made sense. For this reason, I take issue with the criticism of Fabregas for the timing of his departure, because there is no possibility that Arsenal did not see it coming. None whatsoever.

Of course we can sit here and say he was ungrateful for the development we put into him, but equally we cannot act as if we as a club got nothing from the arrangement. In the changing world of football where money trumps all, frankly I respect the fact that there are only two clubs that Fabregas will ever play for.

It must be love...

For me, this is the key to why I would welcome Fabregas back with open arms, should he choose to return, and also perhaps why the club still have his image and name on a banner on the Ken Friar bridge I cross every match day. Arsenal may be his second love, but that’s still much higher than most players in the modern game. It doesn’t mean he didn’t care when he played for us, just as it doesn’t mean that Theo Walcott of Liverpool fandom, or Jack Wilshere of West Ham support don’t care. Indeed, in many ways it is harder for the Walcotts and Wilsheres, whose first team actually play in the same league, and who they must play against on occasion. We cannot hold our players to the same standards we would our fans – Carl Jenkinsons, with the talent and passion to play for Arsenal, are few and far between.

Trey, I love you, I respect you, but on this, I cannot agree with you. We may have Santi Cazorla now, but imagine having Cesc and Santi.

Truth is, Barcelona will only let him go if he asks, and he will only ask if Barcelona don’t want him, so it’s a vicious circle. A girl can dream though.

Follow the author on twitter: @nellypop13

...and don't let the door hit you in the arse...

(I hadn't intended to write this but some of the responses I've seen on twitter have forced my hand.)

I do not like Francesc Fabregas.

He is not a sporting hero of mine.

I'm baffled by the incredible double standard that Arsenal supporters are showing in their judgement of his actions versus those of other wantaway players. The only reason I can see is that these people simply want to believe that Fabregas is different. They dislike Van Persie, Nasri, Adebayor, etc., but they LOVE Fabregas. He is different. They want him back. He is special. The facts about him dare not contradict their magical thinking.

He rejected Arsenal and he voided the remaining years on his contract. He had signed an extension of terms with a pay rise that would keep him under contract at Arsenal until 2015. That's actually two years FROM NOW.

He had been made club captain (which I thought hilarious at the time because he had never been a leader) and given freedom on the pitch to flourish and become a great player.

My opinions are that he never would've become that player had he stayed at Barcelona because I do not believe he would've ever supplanted Xavi and Iniesta. He wouldn't have become a featured player for the Spanish national side. I don't think he would've become famous or appreciated on the world stage. And he certainly wouldn't have become the object of affection of so many millions of people who, despite his rejection, continue to pine away for him like a weepy teenaged girl.

The Arsenal Football Club is more important to me than individual players, and I do not take it lightly when players act in a way that damages the club. Fabregas' behaviour damaged the club.

1. He left the club before the end of his final season, his final game as club captain, while his teammates played out a draw at Fulham. He was once again injured at the time and showed his fellow players, manager, and most of all the Arsenal supporters, just where his priorities lay.
   
   
2. The timing of his manouever to break his contract left the club scrambling to fill the gap left by his departure. Despite his injury history, it must be said that as the focal point of the Arsenal attack he was not going to be easily replaced. During another of his injury absences in 2008, Arsene Wenger attempted to buy Mikel Arteta from Everton during the January transfer window. Fortunately Wenger was able to finally sign Arteta but not until after the 8-2 humiliation at Manchester United.
   
   
3. The most offensive part of this saga is not the rejection nor the hole left in the Arsenal midfield that would not be filled until the 2012-13 season. No, the most offensive was the fact that by deciding he would only be sold to one club on the face of the planet, Fabregas essentially stole at least 15 million pounds from Arsenal. The cut price of 35 million euros was “negotiated” (in the world outside of football it's more commonly called blackmail, not negotiation) at a time when players like Andy Carroll and Fernando Torres were going for almost double that amount. Arsenal gave Fabregas the opportunity to develop into what some were calling one of the best midfielders (when healthy) in the world. This was the way he repaid the club. And if you think that Arsenal don't need that 15 million quid, you haven't been paying much attention to their transfers lately.

I don't understand how Robin Van Persie can be reviled for his actions but Fabregas is loved to the point that I can sense rapturous tears in some people's tweets when verbally wanking themselves over the thought of the glorious son returning “home” to North London. Let's look at the facts: Van Persie played to within one season of his contract's expiration and had given the club time to bring in replacement players during the transfer window. He never stated that he would only go to one club, thus forcing Arsenal to sell him at a severely discounted price. And Arsenal were compensated fairly in the sale.

Is it disgusting to see Van Persie in that uniform? Yes. Do I want him back at Arsenal? No. Do I dislike him for what he did? Certainly. I'm a football supporter, not a newsreader or a member of a university philosophy department. It's not my job to be rational in my football support. I wanted him to stay at Arsenal and channel his desire to have lots of money win trophies there. But in the end he's just another classless mercenary footballer like all the rest of them.

I know most of my fellow Arsenal supporters feel similar antipathy toward Van Persie.

I just don't understand the embarrassing love-fest for Fabregas, whose behaviour was far worse and far more costly to Arsenal.

I would rather have made him see out the remaining years on his contract in the reserves than have him blackmail the club the way he did. It was disgraceful for everyone involved. And as far as I'm concerned, it still is. Nothing's changed.

Wait, one thing has changed.

We have Santi Cazorla now. That suits me just fine.

Can we be honest?

Here is a lovely quote from 1978's "Heaven Can Wait."  Thought you might like it.

"Look I'm sorry to bother you so late, but I don't love you, and you don't love me, so let's get a divorce, alright?"

That's yer man Warren Beatty talking to the lovely and unfaithful (and somewhat murderous) Dyan Cannon. 

She was at the peak of her powers then--a physically perfect specimen who, while not the youngest piece of arse on the block, was definitely one that you could see a wealthy bloke splashing his cash on because, let's face it, if you could have that riding John Thomas you would probably be willing to put up with most of her less-than-obvious flaws. 

But ol' Warren, at the moment still a rich n' handsome type himself, though not quite the strapping buck he was in his "Splendour in the Grass" days, wanted something else. He wanted Julie Christie, our dove from Dr. Zhivago. 

Now, I love Julie Christie. I always have, and I always will. When she's walking away in the snow in Zhivago I think she's one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen. But let me be honest, as lovely as she is, she's no Dyan Cannon--not at that point. She looks pretty, she has a lovely voice, but if you're a rich bloke looking for a rumble in the hay she's just a skinny bint.

So why does ol' Warren decide to deliver that ultimatum to Dyan?  Why would he cut himself off from the top totty to be with the somewhat less than exciting yet still lovely Julie?

Granted, this is just a film and not real life so it might've been highly unlikely that a real "Farnsworth" would've thrown over his lovely and unfaithful (and murderous) spouse for the pleasingly pleasant Julie Christie. But let's assume for a moment there's something metaphorical going on here. 

I think that he just gets sick of the much more lovely yet much more unfaithful Dyan. Sick of it. Lies, deception, pretense--at some point, he just gets sick of the whole thing. 

"I don't love you, and you don't love me, so let's get a divorce."  THAT'S HONEST.

That is what the Arsenal Football Club did with Robin van Persie.

I hate, hate, hate that he went where he went. But he did it. HE did it. We didn't do it.  We didn't send him there--you might think so, but you're wrong. 

I have to be honest, I actually love this move. It's very mafia. It's very Goodfellas. It's a move that says "You're dead to me." He certainly may win some tin with the Rags, but he's dead to our family. And we took them for a load of cash that in hindsight looks hilarious. I would've swapped him for Berbatov and I am not joking about that. Yes, you know how people say things like that after the fact, but I wouldn't call it retrospective dislike. 

Nobody goes against the family. And it's not personal--it's business. 

I distinctly remember Sky interviewing Patty Vieira "back in the day" and they asked him, could he see himself playing for MUFC. "Well, NO, of course not!" he said. (Obviously he didn't rule out the petroBlues.) They asked him why, and his case (as I remember it) was simply that playing for that lot was untenable, and more than anything, playing for Ol' Red Nose was not an option. NOT AN OPTION, 

PV4 was our captain, and yes, he was almost always one foot out the door. But at the very least, he didn't disgrace the shirt like this. He was a made guy. I don't like what he's doing now but I have to believe that if we had offered him something before they did, he'd be on our side. Well, we didn't, and he isn't, so what?

I have nothing to say about Robin. He's a dick, and I hope he enjoys himself.