It’s been a very busy summer at Arsenal FC, and today was another eventful day. Let’s take a spin through Tuesday’s headlines circulating with the Gunners community in cyberspace. This edition focuses on past Arsenal players, managers and club legends.
-Arsenal legend and Belgium national team assistant coach Thierry Henry has left his punditry position at Sky Sports in order to focus on furthering his managerial career. The Daily Mail claims that one club in England and two clubs abroad have already offered him a gig.
2/3 It is with sadness, therefore, that I have decided that I must leave @SkySports to enable me to spend more time on the pitch and concentrate on my journey to achieving that goal. pic.twitter.com/EdC4s8AMaW
— Thierry Henry (@ThierryHenry) July 16, 2018
Henry reportedly makes £4 million a year at Sky, on a deal that runs for two and a half more years, so he’s walking away from £10 million in order to pursue his dream. Henry had been mentioned as a candidate to replace Arsene Wenger, before the job went to Unai Emery.
-Speaking of Arsene Wenger and Thierry Henry, the long time boss at Arsenal who stepped down in May made some heart felt, incredibly self-aware revelations in an interview with French outlet RTL.
One of the more poignant passages of the Wenger interview relates to Henry, and another of his former players, Patrick Vieira.
Wenger admits that managing was his everything, and his being a workaholic took a massive toll on his personal life. He wondered allowed if Henry and Vieira will be willing to make a similar sacrifice.
“I regret having sacrificed everything I did because I realize I’ve hurt a lot of people around me. I’ve neglected a lot of people. I’ve neglected my family, I’ve neglected many close ones,” Wenger admitted. (h/t Sky Sports)
“Deep down though, the obsessed man is selfish in his pursuit of what he loves. He ignores a lot of other things. But it’s a bone to chase at the same time.
“Often, I’m asked if Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira will be good managers and I always answer yes. They have all the qualities; they’re intelligent, they know football, they have excellent skillset, but do they want to sacrifice what needs to be sacrificed. It’s an obsession which bounces around your head day and night.
“You wake up at 3am thinking about team selection, tactics, formation…”
In the same interview, Wenger said that the biggest mistake of his career was staying at Arsenal for 22 years. Here’s a link to more on that.
-Finally, former Arsenal great Ray Parlour expressed his regret that Jack Wilshere left the club and moved on to West Ham United. During a press conference promoting the Arsenal Legends game against Real Madrid on September 8, Parlour said he was gutted by the development.
“I’m gutted that he’s left because I would love to see him still in an Arsenal shirt, but I’m really pleased he’s gone to a club to play football because there is nothing worse than training hard all week and then sitting in the stands,” said Parlour.
“Jack Wilshere has made a big decision and it was his to make. He met the manager and realised he might have been third or fourth in the pecking order. As a player who has missed so much football he needs to play.”
“He is a magnificent player — there are only two players I’ve seen as youngsters come straight through to the first-team that I have thought ‘these are going to be top, top stars.’ One was Jack and the other Cesc Fabregas.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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