Selling Henry will help Arsenal be a better team
There was a time, 2 years ago and more, when the thought of Henry leaving Arsenal had me in a cold sweat.
He was at that time Mr Arsenal, everything that made us who we were and epitomized the football we played. Add to that the presence on the field and those amazing goals, I wonder now what is going to happen? I have taken some time out, away from the tabloids and had a good look at the last two seasons with Henry as Captain. Here is my conclusion:
This move is best for Arsenal.
Henry was never my first choice for Captain and I still believe he has never been a great one. Not a terrible one for sure but I don’t think he was ever able to lift Arsenal up on his own the way Paddy or Adams was able to do. So in that respect Wenger can now look to promote a real leader in our team. Gilberto is probably the obvious choice but I would prefer to see a younger player be given the responsibility. If Diaby could prove he can play a full season without getting injured he would be my choice but perhaps Toure could be the man for Wenger.
Henry was almost un-droppable. It didn’t matter how badly he was playing it was almost as though it was against the rules to drop him or substitute him. No player is bigger than the club but I got a sense that Henry himself perhaps thought he was. I refer to his moaning about DD and even his demands for signings.
He was one of the main reasons Reyes became unsettled. There is no worse feeling than being berated for a mistake by your captain. Now imagine having it done in front of thousands of people + millions watching on tv? Henry did this to Reyes countless times and he has done it with Robin Van Persie. That will now stop, one thing I am very happy about.
If Henry was having an off day we would play an entire game with 10 men. It was almost as though he refused to get involved. The youngsters in the team would never call to him on the pitch to get into the game, because well he is Thierry Henry of course. Now all the players will be on equal playing terms, another big plus for this young team.
Van Persie will revel in the new role of being the main striker.
Personally I am sad to see Henry leave and would have loved to see him stay for one more year. However this is football and players come and go. I can only wish him all the best at Barcelona. But if you look at his career then the following hold true. We signed him for 10 million when he was a nobody. The following 10 years he produced the most sublime football ever seen in the Premiership. He was somebody. He is now in his 30’s and we have sold him for 6 million more than we bought him for. Yes it is probably a tad low but there might be other things in the fee we don’t know about. Remember he will never be as good as he was. So to sum up. We sold him for a profit and got the best out of him. Not bad business.
Spot on!
This has been the most honest report I have seen and totally agree with all the points raised.
All I’m asking for as a supporter is a bit more honesty up front from The Board, Arsene and Thierry. There is more to this than meets the eye, unfortunately it will all come out in the wash in years to come probably when I am long gone!
Err….
You can’t really say that 16m - 10m = 6m profit, because £1m is worth a lot less in 2007 than it was in 1999!
But we’ve certainly got our money’s worth out of him in the meantime.
My god, i couldn’t agree with you more.
His constant berating off various members of the squad irratated me, some players seemed in awe of him and felt that they HAD to pass the ball to him everytime they were in spitting distance of the goal which in turn led to their problems scoring when he was injured for huge chunks of last season.
If you saw the Champions League game against PSV, as soon as Henry came on they passed every ball to him and didn’t even attempt to score themselves which eventually led to them losing the game.
Luckily for Arsenal the only player that regularly got berated by Henry but didn’t seem that in awe of him was Van Persie and he’s still there.
I think Arsenal might give people a shock this season, some of there players will want to show what they can do.
Great Article, And yes I agree other players wouldnt scream “GET INTO THE GAME!!” Because as you said he is THIERRY HENRY.
Holding onto Wenger will now be the big test for Arsenal, Fabregas has said if Wenger leaves he will too, and that will really make us a different squad.
The team now has a bit less weight on their shoulders since TH14 has left.
I thought that Henry in a way had a right to leave he could have left us after the Champions League and the season last year but he stayed for one more year, signing a new four-year deal with us.
The wierd thing though is that we did better than 2 seasons ago in the Premiership, we came 4th last then as we did last season but 2 seasons ago we were battling for 4th place, and could havbe slipped to 5th this season though we were in the top 4 for the whole year practicly, we were challenging for THIRD PLACE not FIFTH and we were ahead of 5th place by 11 or so points.
Season 2007/08 will be a telling one for us, wiTh Henry gone we will have to work that bit harder but we can defintly still be a top 4 and Champions League and Premier League Challengers. Cesc Fabregas our player of the season without a doubt will be our best player again but we should rest him from the Carling Cup until we get to the last 4.
Arsenal have to spend from the money we got from Henry, Carlos Tevez will be a GREAT signing but we will have to pay a bit for him around 20 mil I reckon. The thing with us Arsenal is we wont spend, but as the great man Arsene Wenger said, If you have 10 pounds dont spend 11.
Nice to see a good positive article about Henry leaving. I feel Arsenal will come back even stronger from this, but it would be nice for the board to openly explain to us fans what is going on behind the scenes. Its been reported that Kroenke offered us transfer funds and that Hill-Wood rejected them. Why? What are they really afraid of?
That bit about henry berating reyes continously was a true fact which every gunner noticed, but was uncomfortable discussing openly. Like someone mentioned elsewhere it may have been because reyes didnt say anything his national coach when he ‘racially ‘ abused henry. All said and done, henry would look odd with another team’s jersy on him, because the best striker in the world was an arsenal man, period. Its time to look towards a thierry-less future for us and it does indeed look good. But the board should do some radical rethinking about their policies, otherwise there will be bigger damage in the future……
Great article!
I genuinely believe that Henry going will turn out to be a great opportunity for Arsenal for all the reasons that you stated.
It’s a pity that Henry couldn’t be honest with us, the fans who paid his wages, or more importantly with himself. He has lied for the last 12 months about “being a Gunner for life”. He’s not the man we all thought he was.
Let’s now get back to being a team called The Arsenal, we’re not a one man band. The Invincables were invincible because of their “togetherness”, that “togetherness” has been destroyed by a few prima-donas thinking that they are bigger than the team & the Arsenal Football Club.
Mr Wenger will succeed as he has done before, let’s give him our full support & let’s focus on the next generation, remeber….Arsene knows!
I strongly believe that Mr Wenger knows what to do with the departure of Henry
In one sense you’re right, Henry did create some division some years back when he and Pires (and Viera) were essentially untouchables who could do whatever they wanted: Including this insult to Cruyff which caused this controversy.
But with Pires and (to their detriment, IMO) Viera gone Henry was really just one guy in the team. Granted he was still untouchable but that was largely because he was the one scoring the goals. Arsenal’s problem this season, with Henry missing for most of it, was its inability to convert possession and often brilliant passing into goals or even chances. With Adebayor hitting the bar about five times in every game and Van Persie only just this season scoring enough goals to actually warrant the title of ’striker’ it’s difficult to see how they will compete with the likes of Chelsea and United (and Liverpool, fate willing) this season. Maybe it will benefit Arsenal in two seasons or so, but even then I fail to see how losing your greatest ever player and greatest ever scorer could ever been seen as a plus.
P.S My apologies for my equivocal use of the term ‘this season’. Obviously the first time I meant the season that has just passed and the second use meant the season coming up.
Cmon ppl… I dint think gunners wud start berating TH fr the exit. He’s been the heart of Arsenal, but thn honestly not vryone’s a Shearer and we shud appreciate TH fr wht he’s given us.
Yes, I agree with the article and I think in the long run TH’s exit cud benefit us, as we wud be more of a team. Moreover, his exit is well-timed as we hv not had him in the team for most of the last season, and the players must already be used to playing without him.
spot on it wa stime for henry to go he was beeing unsettled by barca nd now hes off the can play without any difficultys now, and wen wrighty left we found the perfect replacement fot him nd tht was anelka so now henrys gone ryan babel can be the new henry
Henry is not a winner.
He is probably the best player in the world at the moment, but he is too self-obsessed to spur on teammates. not a big game player is what they say in france. god knows if he scored that one on one in the final against barca, we’d have won. but no, he passed it to valdes. prick
An interesting point made. I personally believe that when Arsenal failed to find an adequate replacement for Viera that was the begining of the end of their dominance. The younger Gunners have not stepped up and are expected to perform too much too soon without support from seinor team mates. Ronaldo has Giggs. Obi Mikel has Makalele. One more year of Adebayor with Henry would have been beneficial. Maybe I’m wrong and that they will shine without being in the shadow of Henry. We’ll see. But, I will remember the 2003-04 Arsenal season as the year and team that made me convert to the sport. I chose to follow Chelsea. But, that was a great team to watch and Henry was wonderful.
Wenger has urged Pires to return this season so he could end his career at the club his career was at its peak.
It would be a real coup if this could get pulled off, he might be the thing we need after Henry’s departure
Truth and nothing much more than the truth….cant wait to see Van Persie as the regular.
agree but should have got more than 16 million.
barcelona will make that in 1 year easily off shirt sales!!!
probably a lot more!
JUST LIKE RUUD LEAVING AND US BECOMING A BETTER TEAM. HOPE AHMED DOESNT READ THIS (HE OBVIOUSLY WILL), COS HE STILL THINKS WE NEED HIM!!
Finally a person other than me who seez optimism in henry leaving other from me. AMAZING ARTICLE MAN!!!!!
I agree with you, especially that Arsenal is not a one man team,of course I’ll miss Henry in an Arsenal jersey, but you cannot count on just one man to carry a team,no matter how great he is.Last season while he was injured the youngsters showed that they can play with the big boys and hold their own, which was very refreshing to see that Wenger has great foresight,and I think that back then he knew what was coming.I can’t wait to see Van Persie on the pitch,and hopefully Reyes will be back in the line up;hes so electric and exiting to watch.I also think that he might have felt intimidated by playing in “Henry’s club” but I think if he comes back he’ll be a great asset to the Gunners.I think next season will be a great one ,now that all the rumors are finally put to rest.
What a nice piece and i really share your view concerning the issue.
Though the move was shocking to the Gunners fans(including me) but above all, we must take heart and gear up to support the team immensely than ever before in other to move the club forward an give hope to rest of the team. We must always have it at the back of our mind, that even if he doesn`t leave, he will surely end his footballing career one day and for sure, someone must take his place.
His reasons for leaving is quite understandable from the analytical point of view as regard to age but how well the ardent fans will accept it is surely in doubt, as they picture in their mind his transformation which makes him one of premiership best strikers in recent years and even his classical and stylish kind of play which send impulses into the fan`s nerves & which also stamped hin as a world class players, not to talk of his goal streaking record that leaves every player a task to beat in the premiership every season.
In my own opinion, Henry has no doubt contributed to the club success in recent years and he has really won the soul of the fans but his exit must be seen as a way to give other upcoming players(the likes of Robin Van Persie, Adebayor, Nicklas Bendtner and those to be sign soon) a chance to shine, at least someone left the spot for him to shine.
The only regrets is just that, with all his achievements at the club, he never won any European cup for the club as a player and not even a title as a captain, but in all all i could do is to wish him well in his future endeavours and i hope the fans will find a place in the hearts to accept his decision and still keep their love for him and above all the club.AT LEAST WE ARE PROUD TO SAY WE MADE HIM WHO HE WAS TODAY.
Let`s hope and believe Wenger will display his outstanding abilities as a coach by signing or introducing a striker to replace him in the team and even surpass his record.TIME WILL DEFINITELY TELL, EVEN HIS EXIT WILL NEVER MAKE ME CHANGE, I REMAIN A GUNNER FOR LIFE
Nicely said Temmy!
Prophetic article in hindsight (so far at least!)