Inside Track: Gunners have a much-changed appearance from the team of ‘79
Inside Track with Joe Carroll
The make-up of the Arsenal team that has just clinched the Premier League bears little resemblance to the one that, for instance, won the FA Cup in 1979.
By that I mean, now there are few players included with an English-sounding name, and none at all beginning with an O apostrophe, or Mc.
In that respect, the North London team are no different than most others in the top tier.
Sky money, providing clubs with millions to spend on transfers, has seen an influx of foreign players, and this, while it may have raised the standard, has reduced the prospects for talent nurtured in England or its neighbouring countries.
No-one is complaining, however, especially those whose team has made it onto the podium.
The team of 1979, 3-2 winners over Manchester United at Wembley, is mentioned because of its line-up. It included six Irishmen, with the rest from England.
(Come all you Gunners’ fans of yesterday, before reading on, can you name the half-dozen?) Pat Jennings was in goals, with Pat Rice and Sammy Nelson immediately in front of him. David O’Leary was at centre-half, playing alongside Liam Brady. Frank Stapleton led the attack.
Stapleton got among the scorers, along with Talbot and Sunderland. Sammy McIlroy and Gordon McQueen replied for United.
Interviewed afterwards, Brady uttered a word that you’ll find in the dictionary, but may not have been there at the time.
“I’m knackered”, he said, which was understandable, since he had just played the shirt off his back, giving a masterclass.
Arsenal lost the following year’s final – to West Ham – and this time there were actually seven Irishmen involved, John Devine, who came in as a reserve for Nelson during the game, joining in.
Arsenal’s league win has done little for me, which is probably a little churlish since it was a team of the same name, also wearing red, that I played for before it came time to make a choice between Gaelic and soccer.
The former was always odds-on to be the one, me coming after a trio of McDermott’s terrace siblings had already made their way down to The Ramparts.
Still, this Arsenal win has to be acknowledged. They’ve been runners-up for the past three seasons, and in addition to staying in front this season, heading off a serious Man City challenge, have qualified for the Champions League final.
They’ll rank alongside Liverpool (1977 and ’84), Man United (199 and 2008) and Man City (2003) if they bring off the double.
As I’ve said here many times before, my UK teams are – I have to put it that way since one of them play in the Irish League – Accrington Stanley, Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Ballinamallard. I certainly can’t be said to go for glamour.
This season’s results: Inverness won promotion, Accrington finished on the wrong end of the table, and Ballinamallard may have to apply for readmission – to the lowest tier.
Southampton won’t be among Arsenal’s opponents next season. The Saints were in line for promotion, but because they sent someone on a spying mission to the grounds of Middlesbrough, who they were set to meet in a play-off, they’ve been stood down, fined and docked points before they set out on next season’s Championship journey.
Hardly a punishment that fits the crime. What could their Kim Philby have learnt from his perch on the top of the tree?
That so-and-so won most of the sprints? That another jumped highest in the leap-frogs? That the coach was constantly giving out to one of his charges?
The same thing was laughed off a few years ago when a team to play Kerry had someone dispatched to see what was going on down in Killarney, or wherever Jack O’Connor was putting his players through their paces. It was a waste of time – Kerry won the match.
I was delighted when Celtic became the first British team to win the European Cup – fielding eleven players, incidentally, who were all born in Glasgow, or within spittin’ distance of it.
Since then, I have followed their fortunes, firmly on their side, especially when there was an Old Firm tie to be decided.
That said, it wouldn’t have caused me a loss of sleep had they failed to catch Hearts in this year’s title race.
The Edinburgh team were frontrunners for so long, and had they held on, the competition would have lost, for a year at least, its two-horse race appearance – or one-horse, as it's been for nearly a decade.
Hearts were set a hugely difficult task in the decider, playing in front of probably the most partisan crowd in British football. It’s just a pity.
Hundreds of the green-clad onlookers made their way onto the pitch before the final whistle, and, as reported, harassed some of the Hearts players.
Another mention of money: Harry Kane, who’ll lead England into the World Cup in a few weeks’ time, was reported in the paper recently to be earning £400,000 per week at Bayern Munich.
I hope trying to count it – or spend it – doesn’t put him off his stroke before heading across the Atlantic.