WHO ELSE DESERVES THE IMMORTAL STATUE AROUND THE EMIRATES? by Ken1945
We know that Arsene Wenger is about to become the next “Immortal” as defined by their own statue, and quite rightly too.
In reverence to a PAL of mine, I will cover his unveiling at the start of the next season, whenever that will be.
However, I then began thinking about who else, in my opinion, deserves that honour and one man came to mind immediately.
PATRICK VIEIRA took over from Tony Adams captaincy as effortlessly as a hot knife through butter!!
Vieira was born on 23/6/76 and joined The Arsenal in 1996 from Milan at a cost of just £3.5 million and proceeded to make 279 appearances for the Gunners, scoring 29 goals.
At 6ft 4ins in height, Patrick became the perfect captain under Arsene Wenger’s attacking playing style.
His aggression as a perfect box to box midfielder saw some memorable clashes with Roy Keane, as The Arsenal and Manchester United battled out for supremacy in the early 2000’s.
During the nine years he served the club with outstanding performances, he lifted three league titles and three FA cups.
He was such an important part of the Invincibles team and was in the two double teams of 1997 and 2002 – but his combative play saw him receive 103 yellow cards and 9 red cards.
in France, where he played in the FIFA World Cup final winning team of 1998 and the winning side in the Euro 2000 competition, he also won 107 senior caps and scored 6 goals.
I just loved Vieira’s competitive manner, his total commitment to the cause, his refusal to be beaten, his leadership skills and his body language with opponents’ supporters.
The way he ensured the team celebrated the Wembley FA cup penalty shoot-out against United at the end where their supporters stood, and the way he waved away the Spud supporters when he scored the opening goal the day we won the league at the Sh****le, as if dismissing an irrelevance…which of course they were!!!!
Patrick Vieira is the person I would nominate for the next statue, some might agree, and some might not.
What other player or manager would other Gooners see as a potential candidate?
ken1945
Ken , there is a line in a song in Gilbert and Sullivans The Gondoliers that goes thus: “When everyone is somebody, then no one’s anybody.” Which would I guess argue against too many statues, as it would devalue them. But though I love G and S, making a statue for Patrick Vieira would NOT make “everyone a somebody” as we must know. Giving say Elneny a statue WOULD! But no one, strangely(not!!), is suggesting Elneny gets one!
Of course PV thoroughly deserves a statue, as your excellent article rightly argues!
Jon, just as manure have never been able to replace Kean, the same goes for Vieira and The Arsenal – in my view, they were just irreplaceable.
As time goes on, long after we have disappeared, there will be other candidates for this honour and I sincerely hope that Mikel Arteta proves to be of that calibre.
I cannot see any current player earning that accolade sadly.
Going back to Sir Henry and David Danskin, there should be some recognition of these two men as well, if not statues a stand or area named after them would seem fitting.
I totally agree, Ken.. What a beast! He had it all and how we could do with someone just like him right now!
It’d be very fitting seeing a statue of him at the Emirates
May be Tomas Pantey
Good shout my friend, but he has a lot to live up to.
Vierra was a giant in more ways than one, we have never replaced the mountain in the middle. He was pure class, with an air of authority not seen too often on a football pitch. Vierra should have a statue without a shadow of doubt. Legend!
Its like you copied this from wikipedia.No original thought process at all.Anyway Viera is definetly a shoe in.Our most important player from 1996 to 2005.No need explaining.
Jo, whoever you are, I’ve just checked wickepedia and I can’t find anywhere the fact that he signalled the players to celebrate the Cup final win at uniteds end or the way he dismissed the spud supporters as irrelevant. anywhere.
Nor could I find anywhere a comparison with keane – let alone any suggestion that he deserves a statue.
So please explain where you got your thoughts from as to why you think it was copied and why you think that ensuring actual facts about a player is not sensible when putting forward a case?
As for your thought processes, I can only admire the work that was involved in your reply and the in depth analysis forthcoming from it.
Looking forward to your reply.
Ken Please relax, because the obvious jealousy of your excellent article by the mean minded Jo stands out a mile. Never seen him / her on here before and hope not to again, as we can all do without such nonsense.
Imo without Patrick I doubt we would have achieved that unbeaten season. Sol Campbell inferred that with Patrick in front of him he felt confident and comfortable as a central defender, some praise from a top defender.
A wonderful captain and player and equally important to the club as Bergkamp and Henry were. So I fully agree and am somewhat surprised it hasn’t already happened.
We need a statue for Mesut Ozil as a testimony for our love and appreciation and the contributions he has dome done for us (by making us poorer by 350k/week). If we guarantee him a statue, just imagine how the lad would explode on the pitch for 90 minutes, with “defense splitting” passes and even some academy striker would be our golden boot nominee, but wait, don’t we have Auba & Laca as our strikers in front of him?
Loved the article, Ken! Completely agree that if anyone should be honored that way, it’d be none other than our most fearless perfect captain.
I cannot to this day find a worthy argument for a better DM than Vieira. Not to say he was perfect in every way, but he damn sure got close. The one thing I hated was the way he left. Although in retrospect, I understand he was too ambitious to stay knowing everyone else would leave so he jumped ship. But to me, an absolute beast and a legend who played his heart out every minute of every match he wore the shirt. Give the man a big lanky muscular statue 😀