This is why Arsenal fans have no credibility whatsoever

[Lofthouse Lower]

http://blog.emiratesstadium.info/archives/7688

Paul Robinson, Martin Taylor, Ryan Shawcross and now Dan Smith – the list of criminals walking the streets of England after committing violent and pre-meditated assault seems to grow by the day. In any just society they would all be in prison for their attacks on footballers, with their managers at least on remand pending deeper inquiries.

And yet it is not so. The Dan Smith attack on Diaby in the Arsenal / Bolton game was atrocious beyond measure but the ref did nothing of significance, the lino did nothing and the manager made nothing of it.

Owen Coyle, currently running this most disreputable of clubs approached the cameras after the game with a look of dumb despair of a man who knows he has no case and yet desperately needs to make one up.

His side had just lost 18-5 in terms of shots, had scored a goal dependent wholly on a cock-up in the Arsenal defence, and who had tried to kick their way to a draw. The club had even sold so few tickets for the game that for what I think must be the first time ever the audience sank to below 60,000 for a league match.

For a manager of a lower caste northern club Coyle has every desirable character except one. I don’t mean brains, because not only is that of no merit when managing a team such as Bolton, but rather I speak of the ability to handle situations without breaking into fantasy. In the presence of the indefensible, for example, he puts on what he must believe is a stern grimace and lets his eyes protrude somewhat. But in attempting to look grim he looks instead rather like a character from a 1950s boys comic in which caricatures of leaders of the Conservative Party are drawn as cowboys and goatherds.

Such men as the Coyle, Allerdyce, Pullis et al are engaged in the task of encouraging the mutilation of limbs of some of the brightest talent, and yet they lack the Presence of, say, Jack the Ripper or the Creature from the Black Lagoon and the ability to put the head down and get out of town of Dr Crippin.

It is the lack of presence that distinguishes these violence junkies from the great managers such as Arsène Wenger and Jose Mourinho, both of whom have Presence in abundance. Which is not to say I lake the negative approach Mourinho adopts, but rather that he is a great personality. These characters like Coyle are like men utterly out of their depth in the world of popular entertainment – men who, when the spotlight falls upon them, scratch their chins or pick at their sleeves, shrug the shoulders quite a bit and mumble incoherent half sentences in their native tongue generally with the overall flavour of blaming someone else.

My point is that Wenger and Mourinho take responsibility and do it their way – utterly different ways as it turns out, but in each case their way. People like Allerdyce, Coyle, Pullis and indeed I would add McCarthy who is building an Allerdyce style approach at Wolverhampton, are not entertainers, and really don’t care too much about the notion. They take no responsibility, just like the players they send out, and if the crowds don’t turn up because the football they offer is awful, that’s hardly their fault. If men like Eduardo, Diaby and Ramsey are put out of the game for long periods then that’s not their fault. They shrug their shoulders and scratch their chins.

Will any action be taken against Dan Smith for his attempt at serious injury? Will he be put up against the wall and told in no uncertain terms that he will never be allowed on a football pitch again? I doubt it. When we consider that the reward that Shawcross got for his inexcusable assault on Ramsey was a call up for the England squad, it seems unlikely. When we consider the way Taylor was back in the Birmingham reserve team three games after he attempted to end Eduardo’s career, I doubt it again. Quite possibly he has already been made Lord of the Manor in Boltonshire.

Shawcross, Taylor, Smith and Robinson should be out of the game, but then so should those managers who encourage them and their like. The tragedy is, they are still there, and still encouraged by their paymasters on Sky and at the BBC and ITV, forever saying, “that’s the way to beat Arsenal, they don’t like the physical…”

We won the game 4 goals to 1, we had 18 attempts on target, and we buzzed. Three of the back four are our reserves, while Nasri, Bendtner, Van Persie and Theo are also out. That is seven of the first team missing, and we strolled through it 4-1 and our club is in profit and beholden to no petro billionaire or sheikh.

Dan Smith is a disgrace, as is his manager, but that it seems is now the price of playing in the EPL.

Unbelievable

[Lord Kangana]

Who is 'Allerdyce' and who the f*ck is 'Dan Smith'? Why bother quoting from someone who is clearly struggling to breath and dribble simultaneously?

[Il Pirate]

Don't get wound up by it. The rose tinted t*at can't even spell Allardyce. In the sixties my grandad used to say that they now play football in carpet slippers and kick a balloon. That would suit the gooners down to the ground. As for fouls on 'saint' Diaby; we have all seen the evidence of his career threatening 'tackles'. The guy's probably pis*ed off 'cos Arsenal haven't won anything for years, and you know what? They will win F all again this year except for maybe biggest whiners in history. And when Fabregas fecks off to his beloved Barca, they will be challenging for a europa spot, just like the rest of us.

[thebish]

a fairly telling clue is the phrase....

utterly out of their depth in the world of popular entertainment

so - relax - he's not talking about football, he's on about summat else that doesn't really concern us...

[Il Pirate]

a fairly telling clue is the phrase....

utterly out of their depth in the world of popular entertainment

so - relax - he's not talking about football, he's on about summat else that doesn't really concern us...

Feckin ballroom dancing!!!! And they'd try to cheat at that as well

[seanworth]

Comic genius. As I said before the fans are getting more pathetic than the players. At least the players know they are cheating because it is tolerated by the governing bodies and they can get away with it. The fans have no such excuse. These are probably the same type of people that actually believe that WWF or whatever its called now is a real sport and that the results aren't rigged.

[thebish]

Comic genius. As I said before the fans are getting more pathetic than the players. At least the players know they are cheating because it is tolerated by the governing bodies and they can get away with it. The fans have no such excuse. These are probably the same type of people that actually believe that WWF or whatever its called now is a real sport and that the results aren't rigged.

whenever I see WWF - I think World Wildlife Fund...

[ohjimmyjimmy]

Dan Smith?

Dan Smith, Dan Smith, DAN SMITH??

[seanworth]

Comic genius. As I said before the fans are getting more pathetic than the players. At least the players know they are cheating because it is tolerated by the governing bodies and they can get away with it. The fans have no such excuse. These are probably the same type of people that actually believe that WWF or whatever its called now is a real sport and that the results aren't rigged.

whenever I see WWF - I think World Wildlife Fund...

I think that was the reason they had to change their name.

[Il Pirate]

I say we should try and put this Dan Smith up front with Klasnic for a change

[superjohnmcginlay]

He's that silly c*nt who we read last season before the game (I think Bish put it up) with the most unfunny attempt at a "humurous" blog I've ever read.

[thebish]

He's that silly c*nt who we read last season before the game (I think Bish put it up) with the most unfunny attempt at a "humurous" blog I've ever read.

one and, indeed, the same...

[ebby]

does anyone have a clue who this Dan Smith is? sounds like he'd fit right in with us

[Lofthouse Lower]

Smith is an ex-Sunderland lad who cropped that angel Diaby, who has never hurt a fly before.

[officer_dibble]

WHO THE feck IS DAN SMITH? Someone ask the bell end tony hart look a like who wrote that shite!

[ohjimmyjimmy]

WHO THE feck IS DAN SMITH? Someone ask the bell end tony hart look a like who wrote that shite!

[Lord Kangana]

Who does he play for?

[BWFC_Insane]

Can someone find the writer of this blog and then beat him till his brains seep out of his skull please?

He looks old. Nobody will miss him.

[plymouth wanderer]

this fella talks some shit i justed posted on his blog you should c the crap he came out with the stupid old c@nt

[Lord Kangana]

Link?