Of course I want Arsenal to win things, but not at any price. That is why I was never among the Arsenal fans who would have liked to see Jose Mourinho replace Arsene Wenger as the boss. He may well have been successful in his career but that ‘win at all costs’ mentality that has seen him cowardly attack a rival from behind with a finger in the eye, deliberately send out teams to dive and hack down opponents, and many other things in a very long list, is not what I want to see at my club.
I am not saying that I want Arsenal to stick with Wenger because he is a nice guy and I have now made my mind up that we do need a change at the top, but I do not agree with the growing number of Gooners who want the new boss to be Diego Simeone. I will never forget him as being the sort of player to pull every trick in the book.
He was happy to employ rough and downright dangerous tactics to stop an opponent but when touched himself you could have been forgiven for looking for a sniper in the stands. Remember how he rolled around and writhed in pain after Beckham had glanced him with a sidefoot in the World Cup?
Simeone certainly manages in the same style as he played and his teams are a reflection of that character, which is great if you want fight and desire but not so good for the fair play and sporting side of the game. His latest antics in the game between Atletico Madrid and Malaga at the weekend will probably see him banned from the touchline for the remainder of the La Liga season but that will not help Malaga.
They will be sick about losing a game 1-0 when a promising counter attack of theirs was stopped when a second ball was thrown onto the pitch from the Atletico bench. We cannot be sure it was Simeone but I can be sure it would not have happened with another more honest manager in charge.
Do you really want this guy in charge of Arsenal?