Morning all.
I stumbled across an article in The Athletic this morning which included an interview with our old goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny. I always find it quite interesting to read what our ex players have to say after they’ve long left. Any bitterness they might have had at the time of departure has probably gone and it’s more likely that simple truth will be shared.
One often hears players say that “this was my boyhood club” when they move clubs but I’ve always tended to take such comments with a pinch of salt. After all, they are hardly likely to say they grew up hating that club are they? In the case of Szczesny, he really was and still is a big Arsenal fan.
I suffered a lot (during) the Champions League final. But to win the Premier League after 22 years… It’s a big relief because I’ve waited for it for a very long time and I’m very happy they built a project of probably one of the best clubs in Europe.
When I was there, we had one season when we were on top of the league for a very long time, and we lost in the end. I felt we were the best team in the league. But we were a very young, inexperienced team, and in the end, when it mattered, we fell short. It still hurts because it’s the one trophy that I haven’t won in professional football that I would have loved to win… winning the Premier League with Arsenal. It’s still bugging me from the inside, but as a fan I’m very happy about what happened this year.
Arsenal is a place where I made my dream come true. Emotionally, it’s the maximum that I believe anybody can achieve: playing for the club of your dreams. I’ve achieved the dream. It’s the peak of your career. It’s a beautiful story, although I only won three trophies with Arsenal: two FA Cups and a Community Shield.
It will probably always be the most beautiful part of my career. The one filled with the most passion. It was also the start of my career. I was very hungry, very determined to show people that I belong at that level.
The nearly season he talks about was 2013/14 of course. Top of the league table at Christmas, 4th at the end of May. Don’t look at the clubs transfer dealings for that campaign as it’ll give you nightmares. Yaya Sanogo arrived first, Mesut Ozil arrived last and in the January, Kim Kallstrom joined on loan. Thank goodness the days of those kind of deals, two of them anyway, are long over.
As for Szczesny, he came out of retirement when Barcelona came calling in October 2024 and he’s still plugging away there now although he’s second choice these days behind Joan Garcia.
A few final words from the once Polish number 1:
It’s taken a long time to be able to play with almost no emotions on the pitch. I played for a club (Arsenal) at a very young age that I also supported as a fan, and that just took a lot out of me. Every time we won games, I cheered as a player but also as a fan — and when we lost, I was sad as a fan as well as a player. It was just a lot of emotions to deal with, and then you have to prepare for the next game in three days, and you’re kind of not ready for it.
When I left the team, I found out that the best thing for me to perform at the best level is to be completely emotionally out of the game.
Maybe it’s not always best to play for the club you love…
Catch up in the comments.
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11668/13568791/chelsea-handed-lb10m-fine-and-suspended-transfer-ban-after-admitting-fa-rule-breaches-dating-back-to-roman-abramovich-era
Or they get relegated Stuart..
Tongue in cheek re Nusa?
They are all desperate to get shopped and into their accommodation Potter. I used to do an online shop and have it delivered to where I was staying.
I think so too, he’s still got a few years left at the top of his game.
Message from Oslo :-I think he’s not stable enough at the top level we need.
RIP the great Franco Baresi. What a player he was.
Thanks Rico. Nice words from our old boy. I mentioned in an earlier post how much I enjoyed reading Martin Keown’s autobiography. He reflects on the processes of being raised at Arsenal, sold by Arsenal, purchased back by Arsenal, then retiring at Arsenal. He gives a very candid account of the rollercoaster of emotions which accompanied his journey.
Surely Infantino can’t survive this. It’s as big a debacle as the Superleague was.
Poor old Newcastle. The Saudi money was always tainted. Let’s hope the deep roots of that grand old club can sustain them through what looks like being a trying season.
Apparently, a £77m deal has been agreed with Newcastle for Bruno..
Good settle up and move on . I will ask the Norway supporters club what they think of Nusa
The tourists are in, shopping took ages.
Tell me about it , I am sure that as soon as they get off of their boats they put their brains in their shopping bags and mill all over the road and forget that there are cars coming . And then they wander around in groups of half a dozen blocking all the aisles and then get to the check out and send someone to find the thing that they forgot.
Standard practice for Lathams superstore ( everything you never needed or never wanted ) and a pint of milk.
If that’s true, £77 million is a bargain. Let’s get it signed and sealed before Chelsea try to gazump us.
Antonio Nusa being linked to us. Norwegian international winger who plays for RB Leipzig.
Apparently, a £77m deal has been agreed with Newcastle for Bruno.
I don’t know if either of you subscribe to The Athletic but the interview is really good. Imo anyway. Lol
I think he vapes these days instead of smoking… 😂
Morning Cicero, Potter.
The tourists are in, shopping took ages. 😂
I always thought that he played with an extra passion his reaction when we scored was always way more than a fist pump .
All quiet on the window today , everyone talking about Infantino.
Good morning Rico.
Looking back can always be a sobering experience, but putting on a pair of rose tinted spectacles is perhaps the best way to do it. 😉it