Mikel Arteta may now be recovering from the coronavirus, but him and his family are still in lockdown to avoid passing the dreaded disease onto others around them, until they are given the all-clear and it is known that the victims that have recovered cannot be reinfected once they go back to normal life.
Arteta also spoke about his concern on a personal level, about how he has not been able to look for comfort in the arms of his wives and his kids, simply because having coronavirus means you have to shun all human contact. He believes that as long as this killer disease stays with us it will change everyone’s normal urges to seek solace or celebrate by hugging each other, something that is very difficult to do at a distance of two metres, especially with family members that you love. He told RTE: “I have three kids with a lot of energy! They are 10, seven and four so you can imagine! I am a very positive person and I try to take the moment to say ‘OK, what can we take from this? What’s the lesson here and what’s the opportunity for us?’
“For 17 years, I haven’t had the opportunity to wake up with my kids and spend a lot of time, dedicate my time and listen to them. You know, do their homework with them and the same with my missus.
“So this is a great opportunity. There are no excuses. We are in the household together and we are really enjoying those moments as well.
“I think we are all realising how much we need each other. We are in a world here where everything is social media, everything is a WhatsApp text.
“But how important is touching each other, feeling each other and hugging each other? I miss that a lot with a lot of people that I love.
“I cannot do it now and I am sure that will transform a little bit of how people behave with their close ones.”
That certainly is a double edged sword. Arteta finally gets forced to spend a lot of time with his family, but for the whole time has to avoid close personal contact with everyone. It must be heartbreaking to be so close to your child or lover and not be simply be able to comfort them or be comforted by physical contact.
I guess until we have a true vaccine (or everyone catches it and becomes immune) then us humans with simply have to learn how to avoid each other for the forseeable future.
This is probably one of the worst results of this dreadful coronavirus…
Arteta rightly spoke of his need to hug his kids again and vice versa too. but mercifully will soon be able to do so again. But he also alludes to the vast change in social attitudes which are already speading right across society. Last nights welcome and cathartic outbreak of national applause in support of our splendid British NHA workers, was just the most overt of many changes happening as we speak and as we breathe.
In future, greedy playrs and agents who refuse to moderate their sheer greed in salaries will find a hostilty towards them that will shock and even scare them. That is as foreseeable as rain in January my fellow Gooners. It is what my friend KEN ON HERE MEMORABLE CALLED THE “SILVER LINING” AND HOW RIGHT KEN IS.
And hurrah for that as there will now be a marked and enforced increase in morality in the BUSINESS SIDE of football and a return to more proper human values. I do not, however, think that will extend to curing onfield cheating , diving etc. Humans have limits!
Our national economy which , ultimately, pays for EVERYTHING,will need to be repaired and that is a long , long job and money will be VERY tight for many folk. The days of paying £60 and considerable more sometimes , for a match ticket will not and can not last much longer. FANS, BY AND LARGE, SIMPLY WILL NOT BE ABLE OR EVEN WILLING TO PAY THAT PRICE. “Rain in January”, don’t forget!
Jon
You and the others on this thread are so right
Alex Song, Djourou and an ex Fulham player amongst others at a Swiss club got sacked because they refused to take a pay cut due to the virus. Greed at its most disgusting. Shame on them and they got what they deserved
Well said John.If nothing else, this virus has brought a perspective to life which was probably lacking before.It has made people appreciate things which they have hitherto taken for granted.It has also reinforced the need for a well trained, well equipped NHS and raised the stature of Doctors and Nurses in the eyes of the public at large..The thought of being at all interested in the money grabbing players and agents who are unfortunately part of our great game has diminished to an extent where fans will openly deride these leaches who take so much money from our spirt.The transfer market, as we know it will first of all collapse and hopefully never again be so far out of step from the man in the street in terms of wages and fees etc.Football authorities, broadcasters, pundits, and Journalists are in for a rude awakening if they can simply carry on where they were prior to Covid19. As a great singer/songwriter of the past said”the times,they are a changing”
Gentlemen, I concur absolutely with your comments regarding football.
However, we must be aware of the corruption outside of the game of football – this is not a unique problem to the game we love is it?
There will always be corrupt individuals, companies and politicians, more than happy to feather their own nests at the expense of others.
I give you the recent expenses scandal at Westminster, or the banking scandal that saw individuals walking away with pensions the “working man/woman” could only dream of.
Then, of course, there was “Sir” Phillip Greene expose…just three examples of our so called “pillars of society” putting two fingers up to the rest of us.
It really isn’t just confined to the world of football, although I appreciate we are discussing this on a football related website.
Will the corona virus cure all the corruption and inequality in society today?
I doubt it very much and football is, in all reality, a very small area of this symptom – indeed Bob Dylan did sing about the “times they are a changing”, but that was roughly 50 years ago and they have changed for the worse.
My “silver lining” Jon, referred to football matters, with kronkie and our club in particular…what we need is as a society, is to believe in another brilliant song:
“there’s something in the air…the revolutions here”.
Yes. I did realise you were speaking about KROENKE Ken , when you used that phrase , but by extension, I also took it to mean the filthy Kroenke type which are all around the game we love, owners and corrupt authorities like Fifa and UEFA. ALL ARE TRASH HUMANS and thecoming change that will be forced on them will indeed be that “silver lining”, in my view.