“It was the best of
times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of
foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it
was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of
hope, it was the winter of despair.”
IWAT or WO – A tale of two pundits:
One is a bitter and twisted ex-pro with a hatred and a grudge against The
Arsenal.
The other is Gary Neville.
Who would have thunk it, one of the most hated figures to run out against The
Arsenal, is now a voice reason to the doubters and, dare I say, a rallying call
to Gooners.
Whereas the once mild-mannered ex-Gooner, Stewart Robson, is a font of bile and
hatred towards all things Arsene Wenger and Arsenal.
Since retiring from Brand United and taking a pundits role at Sky Sports,
Neville Neville’s first born has been a revelation. Most of us thought he would
make a tit of himself, like so many ex-pros and then would have slinked off to
Channel 5, to oversee The Spuds on Thursday night football. But no, young Gary
can actually do the job. He puts Messers Hansen, Shearer and Lawrenson to shame
(which isn’t that difficult to be fair), by being articulate, concise and knowledgeable.
And surprisingly he has a lot of respect and admiration for Arsenal, Arsene and
his philosophy.
Back in December 2012, George Graham came out with the statement that;
“Arsene and Arsenal will never win the league again.”
The older of the Neville boys surprising rebuff to this was:
“Arsenal are on the right track. They run the club in a sensible way. When
I go there, I watch good players, good football and you sense the history of
the place. There is a drop in quality, especially in forward positions.
“They were the best attacking team I played
against and, at the moment, they don’t have that ruthlessness and devastation.
Lack of quality: Gervinho misses a crucial chance in the first half against
Bradford but we should be applauding the fact a club have had a manager for 16
years in a world in which divorce rates get ever higher, in which loyalty isn’t
valued and in which everyone demands everything instantly.
“Sensible football people should be defending
Arsene Wenger and fighting for him to build another great Arsenal team. And we
certainly shouldn’t be sat here saying: ‘Arsenal will never win another title.’
To me, that seems absurdly reactive.”
Then in May 2013 he once again backed The Arsenal way:
“They’ve spent £9m net in 10 years and maintained the level of consistency
of getting in the Champions League. They’ve built a football stadium, they’re
paying off their debt and they’re nearly there. If they move up now it will
look like one of the most magnificent managerial performances when you look
back in history. Half the Arsenal fans are annoyed because they think they
should be doing more and should be doing better, but of all the madness and
debt that surrounds football, what they have done is absolutely the right
thing. What they now need to do, having nearly paid off their debt, is they
need to go now. I think he knows, Arsene Wenger, that moment is now.”
In contrast, since being forced out of Arsenal TV by the supporters for
basically being, well, sh!te, ex-Gooner Stewart Robson, will speak to anyone with a microphone (Fact: he pops
up more than Harry Redknapp on transfer deadline day) and does nothing but
vilify Arsene and Arsenal.
Following Arsenal’s exit from the Carling Cup, Robson ludicrously came up with
the following gems;
“Bradford boss Phil Parkinson showed he’s a better coach than Arsene
Wenger”
“Steve Bould, Neil Banfield, Terry Burton can’t challenge Wenger because
he’s a dictator.”
“When the team are making mistakes he doesn’t rectify them, and the reason
he doesn’t rectify them is he doesn’t know what the mistakes are.”
Then in June 2013 Robson spouted:
“I am not expecting any marquee signings at Arsenal. There is a lot of
talk about it, but I wouldn’t trust Arsene Wenger with that money.
“Over the last two seasons they have spent
some money on Olivier Giroud, Lukas Podolski, Mikel Arteta, Nacho Monreal, Per
Mertesacker and Andre Santos. They haven’t been top-class players.”
It goes to show that the 2 old cliches are true:
1 – You should never judge a book by its cover.
2 – Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
Also that Stewart Robson really knows fcuk about football:
(A) Phil Parkinson is a better manager than Wenger; LMAO
(B) Olivier Giroud, Lukas Podolski, Mikel Arteta, Nacho Monreal and Per Mertesacker
are not top class players; LMFAO
TheSundayMorningGooner: If you care, enjoy, follow & share
Steve Wellman
English by birth, Australian by choice. Traffic Engineer, Arsenal ST Holder, Sun DreamTeam Winner, Writer on @GunnersTown, Depeche Mode, Welcome to my world…
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