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Birth of a Legend

lewdikris

Established Member
Birth of a Legend

I don’t even want to speak about the Kiev game. I don’t care why we lost, don’t care that we didn’t deserve it, or the complex methods by which we could still qualify for the knock-out stages. It doesn’t bother me because I can’t figure out why the most continental team in Britain, with an intellectual footballing professor as their manager, can’t play in European competition. And like the philosopher Wittgenstein said, if there’s a problem that is inexplicable, ignore it and concentrate on things you can resolve.

So I want to talk instead about the moment you realise you’ve got a new hero.

I don’t idolise people. Never wanted to be like any particular rockstar, rapper, actor or writer. I’ve had my moments – an Orson Welles obsession, but I couldn’t handle the diet; a John Coltrane obsession, but I ain’t a sax-player and I don’t have the strength of spirit. I’ve drunk like Hemingway, who I never cared about, and felt sick of it like F. Scott Fitzgerald who I do. On bad days I’ve wanted to lock myself up in a box like something out of Kafka, or like all those recluse writers who decide the world is a piece of **** and want none of it. Thomas Pynchon, J.D. Salinger, Cormac McCarthy. And I’ve passed enough days listening to Nas and Talib Kweli and Outkast and the Wu Tang Clan to be word-perfect on their rhymes, but though I can say I love them, I never wanted to be a natty headed lunatic like Ol’ Dirty Bastard. Or even be his friend.

Idolising someone doesn’t mean you have to make like The Talented Mr. Ripley and imitate them to death. It’s about a type of respect that extends out from what they do into what you do, some thing you pick up on in their actions that strikes you as worthy of taking to heart. And Kolo Toure, I have to say, is the next man on my list of people worthy of that level of respect. The boy’s a star, and the rest of Arsenal Football Club needs to pay attention.

Anyone who reads my articles has probably guessed I take my football seriously. ****, I take most things seriously. If something’s important, it’s worth really getting into. Booze, drugs, women, music, cigarettes, hip-hop, old movies, Japanese food, philosophy – all things I have or have had my obsessions with. And football. Always football. It’s been over 20 years now since I first picked Arsenal Football Club, fairly arbitrarily, as my team. My dad’s not much into football, although he claims to be a Hibs or a Brondby fan having grown up in Edinburgh and Copenhagen. I’m an only child, so had no older brother to guide me. I can’t remember why, but I picked Arsenal in a West London playground and it stuck.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to go all Nick Hornby on you. He’s one guy not on my list. I don’t buy whimsy. But over the time I’ve been an Arsenal fan, beyond the glory moments of the club, it’s been about players. Brady and Charlie Nicholas when I was little, glamorous men. Then the defence, Adams battling his demons and his body and winning through. Rocky. Then Wrighty, with all that imagination; then Bergkamp with ice in his veins and genius in his boots. Then Vieira; then Henry.

But no-one else can I really say I’ve cared for without reservation about their technique or their will. Bobby’s a visionary, but he gives up. Sol’s a bull but passes like one. Ash only defends half the time. Manu was ginger. Overmars only ever scored one type of goal. Small pointless things, but niggling doubts.

It is still early days for Kolo Toure, 12 games in, but since Adams first broke through, since he took us to that victory in 1989, I haven’t seen anyone who wanted to play for Arsenal Football Club more, willing to give more. Or more capable of doing so. Paddy at his best; Titi at his best – they’ve come close to that. And I think we’d call those two Wenger’s best purchases up until now. The 3.5 million purchase from Milan’s reserves Wenger turned into the best midfielder on the planet. The winger whose career was going askew at Juventus moved to his natural position at the front, the endless goals and assists following confirming a talent blossoming beyond expectation. Kolo may be the third part of Wenger’s own holy trinity. And he will be the greatest part, because a £250,000 purchase from a feeder club in the Ivory Coast has no right to want it this much. To be this good. But he does and he is. And the look on his face when he crashed that shot against the bar last night meant more to me than anything else that’s happened this season.

Kolo wants it, and he’s good enough to have it. He’s three years younger than me. A kid. But with the possible exception of the Liverpool game, I can’t name one occasion where I wouldn’t have named him Man of the Match. Tackling: superb. Distribution; excellent. Speed: got it. And last night: coming out of defence, moving back at lightspeed to clear. Sheer footballing heroism. I’ve said previously that Henry’s coming deeper was making Vieira’s role less influential. The way Kolo came out last night, Vieira was unnecessary (and possibly unfit). He was orchestrating that heart-wrenching last 20 minutes like Vieira at his very best. When all three get going at the same time, it is going to be a fearsome spectacle. I rate his influence as potentially that great.

I read an interview with Kolo a month a go in which he talked about the importance of Islam to him. Say what you like about religion, faith is a guarantee of respectable off-field behaviour in your players, and with the disgusting behaviour of too, too many of our stars this last month, it might be that managers ought to start combing the churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras rather than local parks for players they can trust not to be vile little ****-bags. Faith means you know someone wants more out of what they do than just the money and the women. Great players may not have religion, but they all have the zealous faith that winning games is what they are there for. Making tackles, making passes. Believing.

Kolo believed last night as not one other player on that pitch did. And he was superb. As he has been remorselessly since Wenger gave him his chance.

It’s enough to make you believe in football on a grim day and at a grim time when the game is in thorough disrepute and means very little to me.

Sometime soon I’ve got to get a new Arsenal shirt. There’s no question whose name is going on the back. That’s the limits of football idolatry. A name on a shirt, a respect that endures the good times and the bad-times. It’s simple. You want someone to tell you everything good about Arsenal Football Club, about what football might be for, think 28 Toure. And smile. A hero has been born.
 

Natnat

Established Member
Trusted ⭐
Tony Ray Martin David they are our heroes.
Kolo will become one if he stays and do not go after his contract ends
Kolo got all the makings of one.
So far he is showing he is Arsenal through and through
 

Calrad

Active Member
A chap devoted to his duty.
Simply superb attitude is how I see it.
He's the one person on the pitch who you can see full of facial expressions during the match, be it disappointed with his mistakes or happy with his contributions.
 

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