Arsene Wenger and Bob Marley, One Love

Simmer Down – 1996

Simmer down, you lickin’ too hot, so
Simmer down, soon you’ll get dropped, so
Simmer down, can you hear what I say
Simmer down, that why won’t you, why won’t you, why won’t you simmer down
Simmer down

Arsene Wenger arrives at Arsenal. Tony Adams quits drinking. Arsene has the boys do Yoga, quit eating candy, stop drinking so much, and gets them to simmer down.

One Love – 1997/98

Let them all pass all their dirty remarks (One Love!)
There is one question I’d really love to ask (One Heart!)
Is there a place for the hopeless sinner
Who has hurt all mankind just to save his own beliefs?
Believe me

One Love! What about the one heart? One Heart!
What about – ? Let’s get together and feel all right
As it was in the beginning (One Love!)
So shall it be in the end (One Heart!)

Arsenal’s 100th season of competitive football and Arsene Wenger’s first title with the club. Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal come together after a string of defeats in November/December leave them in 6th place and all but out of the title race. However, the team pulled together and from Boxing Day to May 3rd, Arsenal go undefeated, culminating in the iconic goal of Wenger’s early career: Steve Bould chipping through for Tony Adams to score against Everton from open play.

Jamming – 1998-2001

We jammin’ on the for the daughters and sons
The struggle is not over until the battle is won
Hip-Hop is life but it ain’t all to me
Now where would we be if they take our mics from we.
Or better yet strip on might itself
We done it before so I sit by the door
Those that claim but don’t really know the game
Bob Marley, learn the man behind the name

After their spectacular first League title, Arsenal and Arsene spent three seasons coming in runners up. During this time Arsenal experienced player turmoil as Anelka, Overmars and others left the club but it only made Arsenal stronger as Wenger signed two players who would go on to form the core of Arsenal’s Invincibles: Thierry Henry and Sol Campbell.

Stir it up – 2001/2002

I push the wood (stir it, stir it, stir it, yeah)
I blaze your fire (stir it, stir it, stir it, yeah)
Then I satisfy your, your heart’s desire (stir it, stir it, stir it, yeah)
Said I stir it, yeah (stir it, stir it, stir it, yeah)
Every minute, yeah (stir it, stir it, stir it, yeah)
All you got to do, honey (stir it, stir it, stir it, yeah)
Is keep it in and stir it up (stir it, stir it, stir it, yeah)
Little darlin’, stir it up
Come on and stir it up
Ooh, little darlin’, stir it up
Yeah
Oh would you quench me while I’m thirsty?
Oh, would you cool me down, when I’m hot?
Your recipe darlin’, is so tasty,
And you sure can stir your pot, so
Stir it up

Arsenal sign Tottenham captain Sol Campbell on a Bosman and with their back line reworked, their forward Thierry Henry finally coming into his own, and the midfield bossed by the inimitable figure of Patrick Vieira, Arsenal win the League at Old Trafford. Such was the dominance of Arsenal, both physically and mentally, that they went 19 matches undefeated at the end of the season and won their final 13 matches, including one of the most physical matches of the season at Old Trafford, where Arsenal claimed their second title.

Soul Rebel – 2002/2003

I’m a rebel, soul rebel
I’m a capturer, soul adventurer
I’m a rebel, soul rebel
I’m a capturer, soul adventurer
See the morning sun (ah-ah-ah-ah-ah)
On the hillside (ooh)
Not living good, yeah, travel wide
Said, I’m a living man, said, I’m a living man
I’ve got work to do (oh)
If you’re not happy, children
Then you must be blue
(Must be blue, must be blue) people say

After Arsenal won the League at Old Trafford, Tony Adams retires and Wenger says that his team could go an entire season undefeated. Instead, a series of late season losses to Blackburn and Leeds resigns Wenger to wistfully looking out at the sun on the hillside of what could have been.

Three little birds – 2003/2004

Rise up this mornin’
Smiled with the risin’ sun
Three little birds
Pitch by my doorstep
Singin’ sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true
Saying’, (this is my message to you)
Singing’ don’t worry ’bout a thing
‘Cause every little thing gonna be alright
Singing’ don’t worry (don’t worry) ’bout a thing
‘Cause every little thing gonna be alright

Wenger’s third and final League title with Arsenal was Arsenal’s Invincibles, a melody pure and true. It was a season that would sustain him, the club, and the supporters through many trials and tribulations to come as the club built a new stadium and suffered as first Chelsea, then Man City came into the league with dumptrucks full of money and changed everything.

Waiting in Vain – 2007/08

It’s been three years since I’m knockin’ on your door,
And I still can knock some more:
Ooh girl, ooh girl, is it feasible?
I wanna know now, for I to knock some more.
Ya see, in life I know there’s lots of grief,
But your love is my relief:
Tears in my eyes burn – tears in my eyes burn
While I’m waiting – while I’m waiting for my turn,
See!

I don’t wanna wait in vain for your love;
I don’t wanna wait in vain for your love;

After the Invincibles Wenger embarked on a crazy plan to buy nothing but young players, try to mould them into a unit, and use their talent and teamwork to get Arsenal back to the promised land. He sold Vieira, sold Henry, sold Campbell, and fashioned the team around prodigy Cesc Fabregas. It nearly worked. In the minds of many, Arsenal would have won the League that year, but for Taylor breaking Eduardo’s leg. Arsenal wouldn’t come close to the title again until 2015/16.

Exodus – 2009-2013

Men and people will fight ya down (Tell me why!)
When ya see Jah light (Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!)
Let me tell you if you’re not wrong; (Then, why?)
Everything is all right
So we gonna walk – all right! – through de roads of creation:
We the generation (Tell me why!)
(Trod through great tribulation) trod through great tribulation

Wenger’s youth project collapses. Fabregas demands a trade back to Barcelona, van Persie demands a trade to Man U, Arsenal rebuild. Players like Mikel Arteta and Per Mertesacker come into the club, stabilize the rocking ship, and we trod through tribulations.

Could you be loved? – 2014-

Don’t let them change ya, oh
Or even rearrange ya
Oh, no
We’ve got a life to live
They say: only, only
Only the fittest of the fittest shall survive
Stay alive
Eh
Could you be loved and be loved?
Could you be loved, wo now! and be loved?
(You ain’t gonna miss your water until your well runs dry
No matter how you treat him, the man will never be satisfied)
Say something! (Could you be, could you be, could you be loved?
Could you be, could you be loved?)
Say something
Say something
(Could you be, could you be, could you be loved?)

Arsene Wenger “spends the money”, brings in Ozil among other top quality players. Arsenal win three FA Cups in four years and nearly win the Premier League in 2015/16 – but for a second half of the season injury to key player Santi Cazorla, one which we find out later was a flesh eating bacteria that nearly cost him his leg.

The team starts to decay. Wenger suffers insults from the stands. People all over the world want a change. He gets one last season in charge. Arsenal finishes outside of the top four. Arsene Wenger announces his retirement and on the final day, he says something… “I will miss you.”

You never miss the water until the well runs dry.

Qq

25 comments

  1. This Caribbean bredda can’t tell you how much this post made his day. On his b’day no less.

    Irie heights. 👏🏽

  2. One of Bob’s most profound lines is from “War” (my favourite Marley song)…

    “Until the colour of a man’s skin is of no more more significance than the colour of his eyes….”

    Wenger famously said that he doesn’t pick his team on passports, and did as much as anyone to open up the England game to talent from all over the globe. To the point where a kid from Algeria gets sold for 60m to the best team in England.

    Coached in Japan, scouted deeply in Africa. And one of his former charges at Monaco is now the president of Liberia. That’s so Wengerian.

  3. Great post.

    I tried to think of a way to get “I Shot the Sheriff” into the narrative, but ended up with clunky references to Project Youth (every time I plant a seed, etc.) and players who ask Wenger why he hated them (Perez, Park, etc.)…so I gave up.

    A few things Arsenal-related on my mind today:

    1) What are we to read into Jeff’s omission from the Singapore squad? (Jenkinson is also omitted, but that’s not a surprise, and it looks like Akpom is off to Belgium, so he’s also not included.)

    2) The Andre Gomes rumor refuses to go away. I’ve never watched him play, but he’s a central midfielder who seems to play deep, perhaps a bit Xhaka-ish? Recently voted worst signing of the season by readers of Marca. Not encouraging. Is this the contingency plan in the event that Ramsey leaves?

    3) Word yesterday was that Ozil cut his vacation short in order to join up with his teammates and start training. Really encouraging, if true. An Ozil with a point to prove sounds delightful.

    1. I read the tea leaves in the Singapore squad as well… No Welbeck, Ospina, Lucas Perez, Jenkinson, Reine-Adelaide, or Joel Campbell, making them hot favorites to be firmly planted in the departure lounge. For a team short on width, I’d be surprised if both Danny and Lucas were sold unless it’s to grease the transfer funds for the arrival of someone who can be effective in their position and is definitely not Andre Gomes.

      As for Gomes himself, his struggles in making himself useful at Barcelona and the fact that he wasn’t included in Portugal squad for this world cup doesn’t augur well. He’s a player with complex “ownership” and so I wouldn’t be surprised if it was his stakeholders or even Barcelona themselves who were trying to rouse interest in the player rather than the interest primarily originating from Arsenal, especially because we’ve already committed long term to Xhaka and signed Torreira and Guendouzi in this window. My poo meter is pretty high on this rumor.

      1. Welbeck is still on vacation, and Perez is actually included in the squad. Welbeck seems to have garnered interest from Everton. Perez…I just have this feeling he’ll be retained, but who knows.

        1. Whoops! You’d think he’d be hard to miss with his shorts hiked up like that 😀

          I agree, I think it would be silly to sell them both unless we’re sure we can get someone productive in return, and to me you can’t really have enough strikers, although the term can be applied only loosely in Danny’s case.

      2. Big earthquakes seem to be coming. I didn’t think it would be that kind of summer, but it looks like Hazard, Pogba, Courtois, Higuain, Alcantara, Lewandowski and a few other big names are all potentially on the move. We’d be well advised to sit tight and wait and see what bargains we can pick up at the last minute. If Barca really do go for Pogba then Gomes will be dirt cheap.

        1. Yeah, I wouldn’t mind a 10-15 million flier on a player who was once very highly touted and is still only 24 but for the sums being talked about now it seems fanciful.

        2. Is there though? Sure, some things will still happen, Hazard and Courtouis are gone and Chelsea will replace them, but apart from that? Surely they’re not letting Kante and Willian go. Bayern are offloading Boateng and Thiago but Lewandowski is going nowhere. Barca is looking for a wide forward,I’d say they’re the most likely destination for Thiago. Gomes has been dreadful fot them, they will gladly let him go anyways. No way Pogba is going anywhere, his contract is still running and he’s a marquee player for the richest club in the world with a running contract. I’m not sold on the seismic changes.

      3. I always take these persistent rumours as a sure sign that there’s nothing in it. The Carvalho-Nzonzi-syndrome, so to say.

    2. I remmeber when Gomes signed for Barca the statsbomb folks said it was an awful signing because he was an awful
      player. They couldn’t understand it. No surprise they’re trying to pawn him off then, but if we’re genuinely interested in him then I worry about this brain trust.

  4. “In this great future
    you can’t forget your past”
    (No Woman, No Cry)

    Well done, Tim

  5. Great post, Tim! A part of me wonders how long you’ve jad this ‘bun in the oven” Talking about equivalence, I also quite enjoyed the pizzagate and I shot the sheriff ‘equivalence’ by NycGunner

  6. Arseneholics Anonymous. The first step is admitting you have a problem. But in public they just call themselves “Friends of Yaya S.” There’s probably a chapter near you.

    1. Great men should be judged on their failures (Yaya S) but also on their successes.
      Thiery H.
      Dennis B.
      Patrick V.
      Robert P.
      Freddie L.
      Cesc F.
      Santa C.
      Pierre-Emerick A.

    1. Im not a fan, of hers or Dean Baquet’s Trump era New York Times. She misunderstands reader disgruntlement with NYT’s normalisation of the unprecedented and utterly extraordinary in Trump, and is often arrogantly, haughtily dismissive of even mild disagreement.

      Many NYT readers, including this one, think that they’ve made a decision to bring less journalistic rigor to coverage of Trump in exchange for access. So if Trump shat in the middle of a football field, the Times would gravely intone, “Democrats accuse the President of a Breach of Decorum — (subhead) White House Accuses Dems of Overreaction.”

      What that does is give equal weight to the extraordinary, and the reaction to the extraordinary. And Trump’s unprecedented level of lying. If I say it’s pouring with rain outside and you say it’s dry as the desert, no one’s interest is being served by quoting both of us. One of us is lying bigly. You look outside the window to determine what the truth is.

      Not a single NYT reporter, Haberman included. was capable of asking Trump the devastatingly effective questions that Jonathan Lemire of AP did in Helsinki. The questions that stripped him naked before the world.

      It’s clear that for the first time since the cold war era, you have a president who is clearly advancing the interests and agenda of another state, and one whose interests run counter to America’s.NYT’s readers and Haberman’s twitter followers definitely dont need her soft shoe shuffle.

    2. Im not a fan, of hers or Dean Baquet’s Trump era New York Times. She misunderstands reader disgruntlement with NYT’s normalisation of the unprecedented and utterly extraordinary in Trump, and is often arrogantly, haughtily dismissive of even mild disagreement.

      Many NYT readers, including this one, think that they’ve made a decision to bring less journalistic rigor to coverage of Trump in exchange for access. So if Trump s*** in the middle of a football field, the Times would gravely intone, “Democrats accuse the President of a Breach of Decorum — (subhead) White House Accuses Dems of Overreaction.”

      What that does is give equal weight to the extraordinary, and the reaction to the extraordinary. And Trump’s unprecedented level of lying. If I say it’s pouring with rain outside and you say it’s dry as the desert, no one’s interest is being served by quoting both of us. One of us is lying bigly. You look outside the window to determine what the truth is.

      Not a single NYT reporter, Haberman included. was capable of asking Trump the devastatingly effective questions that Jonathan Lemire of AP did in Helsinki. The questions that stripped him naked before the world.

      It’s clear that for the first time since the cold war era, you have a president who is clearly advancing the interests and agenda of another state, and one whose interests run counter to America’s.NYT’s readers and Haberman’s twitter followers definitely dont need her soft shoe shuffle.

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