Skip to main content
Read page text
page 6
Charles WattsGooner Columnist It’s just nice to be in contention again One of things I love most about my job is that it gives me the opportunity to speak to so many interesting people. That was highlighted the other day when I sat down for a long chat with the great Nick Hornby to discuss 30 years of Fever Pitch and the work he did adapting his genre-defining classic to film. As a journalist there are plenty of interviews you do that once you are finished, you think to yourself, ‘bloody hell, that was hard work’. But then there are some when you just don’t really want to stop talking. And this was definitely one of those. Once we had finished discussing Fever Pitch, the conversation predictably turned to current matters and what is going on with Arsenal this season. And Nick said something that still sticks with me now. “It’s just nice to be in contention again,” he said “It’s nice to be getting to this stage of the season and still having something to really go for.” 4 Goal’s Gunners correspondent Charles Watts in conversation with Fever Pitch author Nick Hornby @charles_watts Now that statement might show how far standards have slipped in recent years, but he is bang on. This time last year, the thought of Arsenal competing for the Champions League places felt a million miles away. But here we are, in the final weeks of the season, and a top four finish is tantalisingly close. The results over these next few games will obviously decide for many how this season will ultimately be viewed, but for me, whatever happens now, this has been a year of undeniable progress. It’s fun to watch Arsenal again and there is genuine hope around the place that things are finally back on the right track. This is a team that the fanbase can get behind and connect with. The work that Mikel Arteta and the players have done has made the Emirates a fun place to go and watch football again. “I’m excited now for the first time in quite a while,” Nick said, as our conversation continued. “My admiration for Mikel Arteta has just grown and grown. The way he has taken hold of the squad and got rid of the dead wood and the undesirable elements has been great. “Add that with the quality of the young players who have come in and it’s a good place to be again. “It really feels like the crowd is excited and up for it.
page 7
“And I don’t feel like we’re on the verge of losing our best players either and that was always the problem with Arsene when we had two or three good ones and they always wanted to go.” I thought that was a really interesting point from Nick and it made me think about what Gary Neville had to say recently about Arteta potentially leaving if Arsenal did go on and get top four. I don’t mind Neville and I think he usually speaks with quite a bit of sense. But I just didn’t understand his reasoning at all with this one. “Mikel Arteta is a brilliant coach,” he said. “I love that we’re seeing a team that he’s getting the maximum out of, I can see exactly how he wants to play, we all can. “But he gets to fourth, and if he was really hard about it, he’d probably say ‘right, that’s the best I can do there, I’m going now and getting my next job’.” I just don’t get what Neville is getting at there. Arsenal are at the start of a cycle right now. They have done so much work to turn things round in the last couple of years and in doing so they have built a young squad that is full of potential. This summer they will go again whatever happens over the next few weeks - and if they have as much success in the transfer market as they did last year, then who knows what they can go on and possibly achieve. Will Pep Guardiola be at Manchester City in two years time? Will Jurgen Klopp be at Liverpool? No-one knows for sure, but both have hinted they could leave. So why can’t Arsenal kick on again and soon be competing for the title? They have shown this season that they are not a million miles away and they’ve managed to do that without having any real goal threat from the strikers. So, if they can fix that in the summer window and the rest keep developing the way they are, then it’s not entirely out of the question. And if they do go on to secure Champions League football over the final few games, then that will only help bridge the vast gap that has been allowed to open up over the last decade or so. These are exciting times at Arsenal and knowing Arteta like I do, he will not be thinking that getting top four is the ceiling for this team. Did Klopp when he first arrived at Liverpool? No, he achieved it and then kicked on again. Arteta will absolutely believe he can do the same, no matter what Gary Neville says. Having come as far as they have in such a short space of time this season, I really hope Arsenal can now go on and finish the job off. It’s going to be tense, it’s going to be nerve-racking and I can barely bring myself to think about the north London derby next month. But doesn’t it just feel nice to be in this position again? So, strap in everyone, enjoy the ride! Whatever happens now, this has been a year of undeniable progress

Page Text

View plaintext

Charles WattsGooner Columnist

It’s just nice to be in contention again

One of things I love most about my job is that it gives me the opportunity to speak to so many interesting people.

That was highlighted the other day when I sat down for a long chat with the great Nick Hornby to discuss 30 years of Fever Pitch and the work he did adapting his genre-defining classic to film.

As a journalist there are plenty of interviews you do that once you are finished, you think to yourself, ‘bloody hell, that was hard work’.

But then there are some when you just don’t really want to stop talking. And this was definitely one of those.

Once we had finished discussing Fever Pitch, the conversation predictably turned to current matters and what is going on with Arsenal this season.

And Nick said something that still sticks with me now.

“It’s just nice to be in contention again,” he said “It’s nice to be getting to this stage of the season and still having something to really go for.”

4

Goal’s Gunners correspondent Charles Watts in conversation with Fever Pitch author Nick Hornby

@charles_watts

Now that statement might show how far standards have slipped in recent years, but he is bang on.

This time last year, the thought of Arsenal competing for the Champions League places felt a million miles away. But here we are, in the final weeks of the season, and a top four finish is tantalisingly close.

The results over these next few games will obviously decide for many how this season will ultimately be viewed, but for me, whatever happens now, this has been a year of undeniable progress.

It’s fun to watch Arsenal again and there is genuine hope around the place that things are finally back on the right track. This is a team that the fanbase can get behind and connect with. The work that Mikel Arteta and the players have done has made the Emirates a fun place to go and watch football again.

“I’m excited now for the first time in quite a while,” Nick said, as our conversation continued.

“My admiration for Mikel Arteta has just grown and grown. The way he has taken hold of the squad and got rid of the dead wood and the undesirable elements has been great.

“Add that with the quality of the young players who have come in and it’s a good place to be again.

“It really feels like the crowd is excited and up for it.

read next page

My Bookmarks

Buy this Book
Skip to main content