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Thierry Henry's the Arsenal old boy Arsene Wenger really needs
Last updated at 10:18 PM on 16th January 2010
So, Sol Campbell's thrilled at ‘coming home’ to Arsenal, is he? Home? Is that supposed to be some sort of joke? Arsenal is about as much Sol’s home as Buckingham Palace is mine. Yes, I’ve been there a few times. But nobody there really likes me. And it’s the same with Mr Campbell.
Because the truth is that White Hart Lane was his real home, the place where he spent the first decade of his professional career, playing 255 league games, scoring 10 goals and eventually becoming club captain.
The Spurs fans loved, worshipped and adored the very spittle he deposited in the penalty area.
Until that fateful day in 2001 when their hero decided to repay all their faith by defecting to their most bitter, hated rivals up the road.
Tell it like it is: Spurs fans react to Campbell's defection in 2001
As a Gooner, I laughed my head off, of course, taunted all my Spurs mates and raced to buy the first Campbell shirt off the Arsenal presses. But I remember shivering with horror at the very idea of the reverse happening — someone like Patrick Vieira or Tony Adams leaving us for Spurs. A more unthinkable act of betrayal it would be hard to imagine.
Campbell did well at Arsenal, helping us win two Premiership titles, going one miraculous season unbeaten and nearly pinching the Champions League against all the odds.
But let’s not kid ourselves here. He was never ‘one of us’. We didn’t revere him like we revered a Bergkamp, Henry, Vieira, Ljungberg, or even a Lee Dixon. He was always just that Spurs skipper who did the dirty on the old enemy and gave us all a good laugh.
More from Piers Morgan On Sport...
When he left, soon after that weird evening when he walked off the pitch at half-time as we were losing 2-0 against West Ham and didn’t come back for three months, nobody shed too many tears. He was just letting us down the way he let Spurs fans down but we never loved him anyway, so it didn’t matter.
So to hear him now waxing lyrical about ‘coming home’ is ludicrous.
But let’s get real for a moment. It’s probably a clever piece of business by Arsene Wenger. Campbell remains a big, strong, talented centre-back, even if I’d be seriously worried about his lack of pace against a Torres or Drogba. As cover for Gallas and Vermaelen, though, it makes sense.
And now that Wenger’s finally broken his rule of never re-signing any player he sells, why stop here?
Arsenal are not going to get a better chance to win the League than this season. Clubs who have bottomless pits of cash like Chelsea and Manchester City will simply buy future titles.
But right now, notwithstanding Chelsea’s 7-2 beating of Sunderland, we look the best team out there. The kids, especially Fabregas, Song and Diaby, have matured, the new signings, Arshavin and Vermaelen, have excelled and there is an excitement in the stands at the Emirates I haven’t felt since 2005.
In fact, I’d go as far as saying we’re just one great striker short of being potential champions. With Van Persie injured, Eduardo struggling since coming back from injury and Walcott still running around like a blue-backsided pterodactyl, we need a world-class predator to take us home to the silverware.
Friends reunited: After re-signing Sol Campbell, Arsene Wenger should also bring back his former Arsenal team-mate Thierry Henry
Someone who scores goals for fun, is a proven winner, still has the legs of a thoroughbred racehorse and whose mere presence would terrify opposition teams.
There’s one guy who fits the bill perfectly and who, like Campbell, considers Arsenal his home — though in his case, it really was.
A man who Wenger loves, the fans love and who regularly speaks of his own love for the club. He’s three years younger than Campbell, twice as good a player and if you believe the reports coming out of Barcelona, may be available in this transfer window.
Arsene, buy Thierry
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-1243770/Piers-Morgan-Thierry-Henrys-Arsenal-old-boy-Arsene-Wenger-really-needs.html#ixzz0cowasFq7
Last updated at 10:18 PM on 16th January 2010
So, Sol Campbell's thrilled at ‘coming home’ to Arsenal, is he? Home? Is that supposed to be some sort of joke? Arsenal is about as much Sol’s home as Buckingham Palace is mine. Yes, I’ve been there a few times. But nobody there really likes me. And it’s the same with Mr Campbell.
Because the truth is that White Hart Lane was his real home, the place where he spent the first decade of his professional career, playing 255 league games, scoring 10 goals and eventually becoming club captain.
The Spurs fans loved, worshipped and adored the very spittle he deposited in the penalty area.
Until that fateful day in 2001 when their hero decided to repay all their faith by defecting to their most bitter, hated rivals up the road.
Tell it like it is: Spurs fans react to Campbell's defection in 2001
As a Gooner, I laughed my head off, of course, taunted all my Spurs mates and raced to buy the first Campbell shirt off the Arsenal presses. But I remember shivering with horror at the very idea of the reverse happening — someone like Patrick Vieira or Tony Adams leaving us for Spurs. A more unthinkable act of betrayal it would be hard to imagine.
Campbell did well at Arsenal, helping us win two Premiership titles, going one miraculous season unbeaten and nearly pinching the Champions League against all the odds.
But let’s not kid ourselves here. He was never ‘one of us’. We didn’t revere him like we revered a Bergkamp, Henry, Vieira, Ljungberg, or even a Lee Dixon. He was always just that Spurs skipper who did the dirty on the old enemy and gave us all a good laugh.
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When he left, soon after that weird evening when he walked off the pitch at half-time as we were losing 2-0 against West Ham and didn’t come back for three months, nobody shed too many tears. He was just letting us down the way he let Spurs fans down but we never loved him anyway, so it didn’t matter.
So to hear him now waxing lyrical about ‘coming home’ is ludicrous.
But let’s get real for a moment. It’s probably a clever piece of business by Arsene Wenger. Campbell remains a big, strong, talented centre-back, even if I’d be seriously worried about his lack of pace against a Torres or Drogba. As cover for Gallas and Vermaelen, though, it makes sense.
And now that Wenger’s finally broken his rule of never re-signing any player he sells, why stop here?
Arsenal are not going to get a better chance to win the League than this season. Clubs who have bottomless pits of cash like Chelsea and Manchester City will simply buy future titles.
But right now, notwithstanding Chelsea’s 7-2 beating of Sunderland, we look the best team out there. The kids, especially Fabregas, Song and Diaby, have matured, the new signings, Arshavin and Vermaelen, have excelled and there is an excitement in the stands at the Emirates I haven’t felt since 2005.
In fact, I’d go as far as saying we’re just one great striker short of being potential champions. With Van Persie injured, Eduardo struggling since coming back from injury and Walcott still running around like a blue-backsided pterodactyl, we need a world-class predator to take us home to the silverware.
Friends reunited: After re-signing Sol Campbell, Arsene Wenger should also bring back his former Arsenal team-mate Thierry HenrySomeone who scores goals for fun, is a proven winner, still has the legs of a thoroughbred racehorse and whose mere presence would terrify opposition teams.
There’s one guy who fits the bill perfectly and who, like Campbell, considers Arsenal his home — though in his case, it really was.
A man who Wenger loves, the fans love and who regularly speaks of his own love for the club. He’s three years younger than Campbell, twice as good a player and if you believe the reports coming out of Barcelona, may be available in this transfer window.
Arsene, buy Thierry
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-1243770/Piers-Morgan-Thierry-Henrys-Arsenal-old-boy-Arsene-Wenger-really-needs.html#ixzz0cowasFq7
Paul Marin -19 is one thing, 20 is a whole other matter. It gets even worse if they win the UCL. *groan*. 
05/18/2011.MU fans naah cough, but all a unuh a vomit?-Lazie 1/11/2015
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