despite the fact that (so far as i am aware) no one in particular cares i am, all the same, somewhat happy that i have been able to continue a quasi sequence of presenting here at least one (1) statue pertaining to football each year. i never actually intended to do such, look you see, but as a creature of habit, or if you shall label me such a builder of routine, it has become a matter which rests if not plays on my mind.
in this instance, as you may well already be aware from any images you have looked at prior to reading whatever i write around the pictures, it was potentially some of the statues (as a plural) what they have gone done put on display around the stadium what Arsenal play at. so far as i am aware the stadium is called the rather commercially lucrative Emirates, whereas before they played at Highbury.
no, so far as i am aware, it is not so that this pair (for there are two) of cannons outside the ground count as one of the statutes. initially, to be honest, i did consider taking just a picture of these and passing them off as the football statues to showcase for this year (2025), for it looked like an extraordinary amount of effort to go and see the "proper" ones.
without bothering to look it up, for research really isn't my bag, baby, i have always assumed, or otherwise taken as a given, that the origins of Arsenal as a name for a football concern is in some way related to the manufacture (or what have you) of presumably military grade weapons. that would certainly account for why they have the nickname of "Gunners", and indeed the cannons stood on proud display. unless they frequently expect pirates of the seafaring nature. yes, thank you, i am perfectly aware of several other "nicknames" they have, mostly christened if not ordained by fans of other footballing concerns, but none of those are suitable to repeat here.
for the first of "proper" statues, there's (above) Thierry Henry, captured doing what i take as a given as being his "trademark" just scored a goal celebration. i think i can recall seeing him do some sort of slide on his knees celebration, but it has been a fair while since i saw him play. well, he has been retired for a few years now. currently, or at least at the time of writing, he is Arsenal's all time record goal scorer, having netted north of 200 for the team. i did indeed check this, as i could recall the fanfare when Ian Wright became this, but yes, Henry went and scored even more.
a curious thing is that i really rather admire Henry, despite the obvious concern that he is French. it is fondly i recall his most celebrated incident, that one where he was alleged to have deliberately "done a handball" in an international match; one which the Irish team (and nation) who(m) he (and France) were playing against at the time claim as being the "only" reason they didn't qualify for a World Cup (2010, i believe) and the French did instead. had such a thing happened to England the world would have very much gone and p****d itself laughing, but because of the very carefully cultivated (and false) image they project all of the world was expected to be sympathetic to the "poor, downtrodden" Irish. it was wonderful when, for a few years after, one Irish paper every year in their birthday section acknowledged Henry's birthday and described him as "cheat, footballer".
many accolades of variations of accuracy get thrown around about footballers these days. one needs only be a third choice goalkeeper at a premier league club, for instance, to get referred to as an "ace" or a "star". there's also some who get called "legends" or described as the "goat" (which i believe is a decent acronym for "greatest of all time") irrespective of if that is accurate or (likely) not. for Tony Adams, the footballer depicted in the statue above, he is in a limited, hard to get into club of players that you would call "a footballers' footballer". a player who has earned the respect of his fellow professionals, then, one that others consider an honour to play against. not many get that level, if you wanted an immediate suggestion at who else has such stature i would say Roy "boom boom" Keane, but he is busy trying to erode that with his work as a commentator.
quite a lot of Tony Adams' career was when broadcasting football was a rarity. mostly, i suppose, i recall him being at the heart of the defence for England rather than Arsenal. there was always a sense of the, in a positive way, imperious about him, in particular the manner in which he marshalled the defence in the face of a corner or free kick. anyone who ever got the "better" of him knew they had just played the game of their lives. one other abiding memory of Adams was that he never ever celebrated one of the rare goals he scored. i seem to recall that he always just went and grabbed the ball from the net and charged to the halfway line, wanting to get the game going, wanting more.
waxing lyrical about Arsenal legends was not something i had ever anticipated doing, really. as a general thing i would normally describe myself as "indifferent" to them. nice to find, then, that i in some unexpected way am giving an unnecessary endorsement to the representatives of the club they have elected to honour with statues. good choices made, then, for they are people whose reputation extends far beyond just how they served their club with distinction.
that said, and just to be clear that i am not some form of Arsenal acolyte (or what have you) i do have some concerns about the sectarian nature of a certain fixture, with fears that it may stretch beyond. i refer of course to the "traditional" rivalry they have with Tottenham. once this was based purely on the geography of north london (innit), and that time Arsenal coerced some "alphabetical" interpretation of the league which meant Tottenham got relegated. unfortunately in the modern world this match has become "Islam vs Hebrew", mostly due to one Osama bin Laden being (obviously many years ago) a season ticket holder at Highbury. you kind of hope that they (the authorities or what have you) find a way to tone down this narrative for this fixture, all before it becomes the disgusting mess that the infamous Glasgow derby has become.
my first "encounter" with Dennis Bergkamp, whose statue is above, had absolutely nothing to do with Arsenal or which nation he played for (Holland, or the Netherlands, i think). towards the latter stages of the middle of the 90s (or possibly the earlier stages of the late 90s, i do not care which is correct so please do not bother me with it) there was a surprise transfer when Newcastle sold Andy Cole to Manchester United for a whole bunch of coins and one Keith Gillespie. various names were thrown around as to who(m) Newcastle would replace Cole with, and this Bergkamp fellow was top of the list. no, he didn't end up joining them.
overall, no, i do not like this statue. yes, of course i think the player depicted was brilliant, but that pole is far too distracting. i "get" that they wished to show him in a "classic" pose and suggest a fluidity of movement, but it simply does not work. for the sense of "energy" in a statue, consider the magnificent one of Bob Stokoe, which was last year's statue presentation. also i am not convinced he really did any sort of "jazz hands" thing when he was leaping in the air to connect with the ball.
last but not least of the statues (or at least the ones i saw, there could well have been more) is Arsene Wenger. he was undeniably a "game changer" for both Arsenal and the rest of the premier league. quite impressive, since when he arrived he was immediately derided as "someone who couldn't even get success in the Japanese league" and mocked for buying "failed winger" Thierry Henry.
he, Wenger, changed things. not really my place to tell all of his tactics and changes, but there is no doubt he heralded a cultural change in footballer behaviour and the dynamics of management. easily his greatest achievement - not since equalled and unlikely to ever be so - was managing his team in such a way that they went undefeated for an entire season. sure, yes, i recall one or two "fortunate" decisions that helped them secure draws from potential defeats, but luck (or chance) has a part to play in virtually anything you care to name.
under his (Wenger) leadership Arsenal should also have been crowned European champions on the instance they got to a final. alas, this was during that particularly frustrating time when UEFA had something of a fetish for Barcelona which saw an "encouragement" of on field decisions and subsequent results to go the way of the Catalans. this saw them (Arsenal) have to play some 66% of the match with ten players as the ref elected to send their goalkeeper off. not quite so blatant "encouragement" of a result as the infamous Chelsea v Barcelona semi-final a few years later, but bad enough.
certainly, yes, as a final picture a most needless and gratuitous selfie for you. by the way, the club shop for the team is a massive rip off - £3 for one (1) postcard they charge. to be fair, though, the £1.50 drawstring plastic bag they sell is quality and worth it, but one is generally not inclined to write on a plastic bag and post it.
these pictures all come from the final days of my era of being in that there london (innit) on a regular basis. not sure when, if ever, i shall return to the place. perhaps that gig i recently went to at the 100 Club shall turn out to be my last visit. still, quite interesting to go and have a gander at a stadium and its statues that previously i had only seen from a train in passing. no idea if i shall get anywhere near any other football statues so as to keep this all going next year (2026), but you never know.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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