Paul Merson is an Arsenal legend and someone who I admire for the bravery he’s shown in sharing with the world his battle against addiction.
He won over Sky Sports with his punditry. Originally on Soccer Saturday viewers could relate to the ex-midfielder who would talk to you how your mates would.
Watching him on Tuesday Night though he was less entertaining and more bitter about his former club.
While his peers were laughing at some of his comments, the 53-year-old was not.
That caused more nervous laughter which led to Merson being more serious.
If I’m honest, his eccentric behaviour made me concerned about his mindset.
This was a man being paid to discuss the final hours of the transfer window, yet his conduct wasn’t professional. You could hear him gossiping with other guests when they were off screen and seemed to have a sarcastic tone towards the host who increasingly didn’t know how much was this him joking and how much was it him being annoyed?
Don’t get me wrong, he’s got every right to be unimpressed with the Gunners this season. With zero points and goals so far how can anyone not be negative about what is going on?
Yet Merson isn’t the only one employed because he has links with a side.
Gary Neville will critique Man United, Jamie Carragher the same with Liverpool. Yet both do it in a manner where they are expressing their opinion while showing respect for their once employer.
There’s a lot of points made that I agree with. The problem is his need to envisage a statement so much, he goes over the top, to the point it lacks credibility.
Where once I thought this was for fun, I fear it’s actually a reflection of how he feels about himself.
Not content to say Arsenal won’t finish in the top 4 this season, he claims that 6th would be ‘pulling up trees’, that 10th ‘is about right’
He lists Spurs, West Ham, Leicester and Everton as all sides who should be expected to finish above us.
If he had stopped after predicting we won’t qualify for the Champions League, most gooners would have nodded their heads. But by going so over the top, he becomes so ridiculous that the credence of what he originally said is lost.
Of course, any of those sides could finish above us (3 did last season) but to educate younger fans that Arsenal are ‘pulling up trees’ is not accurate, and he knows it.
He understands full well how big a club we are and knows that 6th would be viewed as a disappointment.
It certainly isn’t impossible for Arsenal to finish above any of those teams and I have to question his motive in pretending that it is.
His most embarrassing quote in midweek though (his peers cringed for him) was his boast that he would do a better job as Director of Football than Edu.
As those around him laughed, unsure of how serious he was, he then randomly said ‘only If I can bring Tony Adams with me’.
So random that again I fear he wasn’t in the right frame of mind.
Apart from being his captain once, why’s he blurting out a random name whose last job in the sport was in 2017?
Gary Neville has been noble enough to say he will never push for a manager to be sacked because his experience at Valencia taught him how hard the job is. Here’s Paul Merson saying he can do a better job than Edu when his only experience in football off the pitch was one season as manager 15 years ago!!
Is he saying that for clicks? For attention?
It’s something your mate would say on the settee angry after a defeat. Paul Merson actually means it.
By the way …. he really couldn’t do a better job than Edu.
The Brazilian has worked with Corinthians and the national team. Whatever you think of his tenure in North London he can boast he played a part in our last FA Cup success.
Adams and Merson were disasters as managers. The first has been relegated, the other was sacked before being relegated. Noeither in that time showed any evidence that they could spot a gem and turn into a diamond.
So yeah, Edu isn’t great at his job but that doesn’t mean you would be any better.
In reality Arsenal would never offer Paul Merson a job. No top Football club would.
It’s a fact that they never have.
He has a history where he’s unreliable and certainly not someone you would trust to run the daily operations of one of the biggest clubs in the UK.
That his peers laughed when he said it.
Was anyone laughing when Sol Campbell said he would love to do some training with our defenders? No?
Why?
Because Sol Campbell teaching our back 3/5 makes sense. He’s got the CV and reputation where others would listen.
Paul Merson is seen as a joke within the game who Arsenal would never hire.
That might seem harsh.
Yet, if you give it out you have got to be prepared to take it back…
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Dan Smith