Arsenal - A Bewitching And Beautiful Team
Nurturing a team of super humans one moment at a time
The sun burst into the forest like an unexpected friend arriving out of the blue. You should have said you were coming. The place is a mess, but here you are, at last. Welcome.
The snow had been decamping for a while, leaving reluctantly, in no hurry. Then suddenly it was gone. Almost guiltily, leaving no trace, no parting word, just up and gone. We’d had good times but nothing lasts forever.
Packed deep inside this sunny dawning, so full of promise, behind the blooming and the fruiting and the long hot summer days, lay next winter’s snowfall waiting patiently. And even deeper still lay another shining summer. And so it was. A great rhythm of flowering moments unfolding through time.
The dog and I sat quietly and listened to the birds and I considered the precarious nature of things. How in every certainty lies uncertainty and in every victory lies loss.
When we got back I wrote this. Enjoy.
Part 1 - Arteta’s presser and a flash of insight.
Mikel Arteta sat calmly in his tracksuit, a row of microphones emblazoned with media logos before him, assorted brands on the wall behind and a fluorescent bottle of sport drink placed beside him. Arteta, the centerpiece of a corporate ensemble, smiled patiently as the press conference prepared to be beamed around the globe.
As the first question began Arteta leaned in to stare at the reporter with the intensity of a man learning exactly how long he has left to live. His piercing eyes sapping the questioner of composure, radiating an unnerving mixture of intense curiosity and bored resignation. Arteta delivered his answer with light irritation as he scanned the room. No, he hadn’t envisioned Arsenal’s current position at the start of the season and yes the team would continue to take things one day at a time.
There followed more questions concerning a number of possible future scenarios and Arteta executed his role calmly and professionally. We are where we are. We are happy where we are. We take each day as it comes. Questions were bowled and Arteta batted them away. Move on folks, nothing to see here.
Then came a question about David Moyes and Arteta’s demeanour shifted slightly as he mellowed momentarily and opened up just enough to reveal the man that his players love so much.
David Moyes had been Arteta’s manager at Everton for six years. Arteta was 22 years old when began playing under Moyes and already then he was showing signs of becoming the man who’d lead Arsenal through an astounding and rapid transformation. Arteta’s analytical, intelligent and single-minded attitude got him voted player of the year in his first season at Everton.
Asked to describe the respect he has for David Moyes Arteta looked into the distance, his voice softened and he spoke with an undisguised candour. “More than respect, I think it’s admiration. I loved playing under him, I would go through a brick wall for him when he was my manager, as everybody would in that squad. He’s a really good coach, exceptional at managing the group and dealing with individuals, and he’s a very special person, very trustworthy, and a man who honours his word. He always did it and he’s someone I learnt a lot from”.
Ask any of Arteta’s players to describe Mikel as a manager and you’d expect a very similar answer. You’d expect talk of trust and fellowship and loyalty but also words of affection, of devotion and of passion. Those beguiling emotions that cause people to go into battle or into bed. When Arteta began talking about Moyes he was opening up about human relationships which, to Arteta, are the bedrock of sporting success and the core of his management style. The following question revealed even more.
What in particular had he learnt from Moyes? “The way he challenged me, but at the same time the way he gave me support, love and care – it was the right balance and it’s what I needed, and he got the best out of me”.
When people talk of love and care, or family and clan they’re talking about identity and integrity, they’re talking about the deep emotional connections that make us who we are, who we want to be and who we want to be with. Traits that can bring out the best in us, and the worst in us. Qualities that can be attractive in an individual and indispensable in a team.
Arteta once said of Moyes, “I really liked how he managed the group as well as the individuals. He installed a real belief around the club to be together all the time, to look after each other, and nobody was more important than the team. He really created a special atmosphere when we were together.”
Isn’t this exactly what you’d describe Arteta’s influence on Arsenal? Don’t these sentiments reveal a social DNA being passed from one generation to the next, a specific mindset that sees the individual within the collective and the collective within the individual?
After this momentary insight into Arteta’s psyche, normal press conference programming was resumed and the corporate atmosphere returned as the messy, bewitching and beautiful humanness was quickly extinguished. Yes consistency is important and yes we look to the next game not the last. Thank you.
Part 2 - Moyes presser and a flash of pressure
David Moyes took a swig from his takeaway coffee cup and emanated explosive calm. A picture of a man whose been there, done it and knows you’ve never been close to “there” yourself. With the resigned assurance of an experienced fisherman explaining to a novice deckhand what to expect as the dark clouds of hurricane Arsenal approach, Moyes answered questions about the seaworthiness of his team and how he expected to stay afloat.
There’s something strange about some press conferences. They can feel like a flock of passive-aggressive relatives encircling the family patriarch, all trying to extract new information about something the whole family already knows. The table suggests that Arsenal will take the three points. The financial disparity suggests Arsenal will take the three points. Football realpolitik suggests Arsenal will take the three points. But there’s also a magical uncertainty where any team can match any team on any given day. When managers are being battered with an onslaught of questions loaded with foregone conclusions they cling to this magical life raft with all their nimble-witted might.
Managers use a variety of tactics when discussing opponents. The obvious one is to refuse to discuss them at all. I can only speak for my team, they say, we can only do what we can do. Or they’ll flatter them with extravagant praise mixed with poorly veiled contempt. They’ve been playing beautiful football, amazing, and so they should with that backing. What they don’t tend to do is what Moyes did when asked about Arteta. They don’t tend to give a fair and honest appraisal based on real admiration and warmth.
How impressed have you been by what Mikel Arteta has done this season?
“Very impressed. Surprised? Not really. If anyone said Arsenal would be a Champions League team, you would say ‘hey, that's a great achievement for them.’ I think for them to take the next step and actually be challenging to win it is an incredible level to get to. It’s looked as if they are quite relentless as well, they are going away and playing very well at a lot of big clubs. We know we’re in for a tough game.”
Moyes earned Arteta’s respect by being a knowledgeable football traveller, a man with true experience and intelligence who wanted to improve, to learn, to build a team. And a man who understands that football is populated by people who need time, time to change, to mature, to learn and to bring in new players and allow those players time to change, mature, learn and build relationships. Moyes understood what we are all forgetting these days. The human world thrives when humans are able to thrive. It doesn’t thrive as a place to maximise profits. It doesn’t thrive under the strain of terrifying inequality or blatant exploitation or ignoring the reality of emotional relationships.
Mikel Arteta and David Moyes have both nurtured their footballing superpowers through nurturing their humanity. People talk of them as being trustworthy, ethical, men of their word and special because they’ve both placed the human relationship above everything else. Our current societies have a great deal to learn from their approach.
After this momentary insight into Moyes’s psyche, normal press conference programming was resumed and the corporate atmosphere returned as the messy, bewitching and beautiful humanness was quickly extinguished.
Part Three - The Game
And then came the game. That spoonful of time on which we gorge ourselves.
Life is made of delicious contradictions. The delicate, fragile and transient nature of each moment, as it pours through the next in a flowing of unimaginable possibilities. It’s the precariousness nature of things that makes them so precious. Even when we’re winning we’re always on the precipice of losing. It’s that very betwixt tension that makes winning so truly enjoyable. Its very fleeting nature is the source of its everlasting sweetness. But this comes at a price. Sometimes a mere spoonful of time can drown your hopes and dreams.
Recently I wrote that we can only wait in glorious anticipation to witness the mayhem unfold as the remaining games unravel themselves in front of us. And this game certainly unravelled itself.
Arsenal played imperiously. And then they didn’t. They game offered everything. Slick beautiful football. A team in flow for 31 minutes. A masterful dominant display. An unlikely comeback. A missed penalty. An equaliser. A nail biting finish and a new level of complexity on the title challenge. No clear winner. No clear loser. Just a fresh rotation in the kaleidoscope of views. Moyes conquered the tedium of inevitability and life conjured up one of those magical moments where any team can match any team on any given day.
After this momentary reminder of the precarious nature of things normal programming was resumed and the corporate atmosphere returned as the messy, bewitching and beautiful humanness was quickly extinguished and the post match interviews began.
Football eh, it’s a hell of a ride!
I’ll be at the Emirates on Friday for the game against Southampton so they’ll be a Arsenal Wonderland Special coming for you fine people next week.
In the meantime, have a magical and messy week fellow Gunners, and be ready for anything because who knows, anything can happen. Why not imagine supporting Arsenal Wonderland by clicking on the donation button?
Lyrical insights and a welcome antidote to a good bit of what I'm encountering on other sites this morning. Thank you!
Stumbled in one place, as there might be missing "h"s in para 3 ("We are were we are. We are happy were we are.")
I'm running out of things to say without sounding repetitive, Jonathan, but another lovely read. Some of my favourite turns of phrase - A great rhythm of flowering moments unfolding through time; the messy, bewitching and beautiful humanness; that spoonful of time on which we gorge ourselves. I hope you'll carry some extra belief with you on my part to the stadium on Friday to shower on this team. COYG.