Emmanuel Eboue – Sad Case. Challenging To Solve

I woke up to the story of Emmanuel Eboue’s present challenges on the Mirror Newspaper Twitter feed on Sunday morning.

It was so sad.

Talented professional at age 34 is sofa - surfing at his friend’s.

Dad no longer has access to his kids.

One time millionaire with the world at his feet loses everything.

Man losses everything to his Ex - wife.

A man approaching his middle age, suffering from mental health issues / depression.

It is very sad. And I dare say, it is something many might probably be able to relate with. Not that we’ve all made millions and now lost the money but we probably might be able to relate to a time when we were flush and are now skint.

We all also know one person or the other who might have fallen on bad times and is now surviving due to the generosity of friends and family.

We also know many families that have split for whatever reason and the split has led to one partner having to probably start all over again financially.  

What is perhaps even sadder for Eboue is that he has had a few issues in the last 15 months. His FIFA ban for a year due to unpaid agent’s fees. An aborted transfer due to ‘failed’ medical’, his mental health issues and others that might thankfully not be in the public space.

From everything you read about him, Eboue appears to be a genuinely nice guy. No doubt one who kids around a lot and one who potentially embarrasses his teammates in a very nice way.

It would appear he was never the politically correct or prim and proper type. Thierry Henry apparently told him in a nice way to comport himself at Buckingham Palace when the Arsenal Team went to visit the Queen. Did Eboue listen? Did he hell!

He apparently made the Queen laugh by requesting that Her Majesty allow him work for her by tending her famous corgis.

What a jolly man.

He also had a very vulnerable side, as he appears to have cried after he was booed at the Emirates and he told Arsenal he no longer wanted to play football again. He was so deeply affected by that occurrence that many years later, he showed his young son the video of what happened to him.

Emmanuel’s path to Arsenal followed a well-worn path. Asec Mimosas to Beveren in Belgium and then to Arsenal.  He had many good times as a player both for Arsenal and for his national team.  He definitely lived his dream and didn’t do too shabbily after he left Arsenal for Turkey. His departure was the start of his problems apparently.

Images online show many happy times with his Ex too. But sadly all of this is now in the past.

As recently as a year ago, Eboue was very grateful to his spouse for her support but the same spouse is now the butt of all criticism for Eboue’s fate.

In the Mirror interview / video, he didn’t specifically lay into his Ex. It appears his ire is mostly with the justice system in the UK. It is however unprecedented that any court in the UK will render a man homeless. There is a lot we don’t know and might never know. Is the court aware there are properties elsewhere? Turkey, Cote D’Ivoire? Is there any connection to the agents’ fees that Eboue didn’t pay?

How has the Eboue’s mental health issues been treated?  With medication or with therapy?

If with medication, is that perhaps why his last medical found “abnormal blood values”? Is that curtains for his football career?

I have seen many on Social Media appeal to Arsenal to give him a role. I hope the club can help him one way or the other. Helping him doesn’t necessarily mean giving him a job.

I suspect the club is in a sort of a difficult position here. If Eboue is not legally allowed access to his son, why will Arsenal where his son plays employ him knowing he might have access to his son through his employment?

It appears long before now, at least more than 12 months before the interview in the Mirror, not many of Eboue’s old Ivory Coast / African mates have helped. It appears only Lomano Lua Lua and his ‘confidante’ (the lady in the background during his interview) have helped out.

I wonder if this suggests there are things in the background many do not know. After all none of us can claim to know Emmanuel Eboue more than Didier Drogba and Yaya Toure.

If I had a magic wand, I will make his life better and his pains go away. But I know that there is never a silver bullet to a complicated life issue.

There are kids, family, money, health & legal issues involved here. I think the issue King Solomon in all his wisdom had to deal with was mild in comparison. 

Why Arsenal Fans Should Never Be Allowed To Run Arsenal Football Club

Of course its never going to happen not with the garbage you see many post on the internet.

But just imagine. If Arsenal fans were running the club, the following Managers would have managed Arsenal in the last 10 years:

·      Owen Coyle

·      Sam Allardyce

·      Tony Pulis

·      Gary Monk

·     Jurgen Klopp – the one who almost relegated Dortmund is even better than the Liverpool version that has won sweet FA

·     Jose Mourinho – the one that has spent £600m so Man U can play like a very expensive Tony Pulis side

·     Ronald Koeman

·     Slaven Bilic

·     Thomas Tuchel

·     David Moyes

·     Harry Redknapp

     Mauricio Pochettino – the one that is only good at putting pressure. The self styled Council Bedsit tenant who scoffs at a modest townhouse

·    GuarDOUGHola – the one who only goes to clubs where they can outspend their rivals

And if you are not impressed with that managerial shortlist. You have to be with the player version.

Left to some know it all fans. These fans that have a solution to every one of life’s problems. The following players will now be playing for Arsenal:

·    Messi, Neymar & every other super star going – according to some of these pretend fans as I like to call them, Arsenal can buy any player they want. Kroenke has more money than Croesus and there is a money-printing machine in Arsenal’s boardroom

·     Christopher Samba

·     Winston Reid

·     Christian Benteke

·     Ali Habsi

·     Scott Parker

·     Super Mario Ballotelli

In case you think the above is made up, please read this article and be aware that there are many Arsenal fans who actually buy into the views of the (non) person that is the subject of the article 

Again if these self styled super fans have their way, the current squad will be decimated.

·  Aaron Ramsey would have been binned instead of scoring the goals that won Arsenal 2 FA Cups (that important trophy when Man U win it)

·  Giroud would have been escorted off the premises instead of being the proud winner of the 2017 Puskas Goal Award, joining the 100 goals club at Arsenal and surpassing Eric Cantona’s goal records

·   Theo Walcott would have had his Arsenal contract revoked despite having a goals to minutes’ ratio that is up there with the very best in the game and closing in on the all time appearance record under Arsene Wenger

·   Nacho Monreal would have been surreptiously returned to Spain in embarrassment despite his versatility and several record-breaking performance in several roles for the Arsenal Team

·   Hector Bellerin will now be a sailor learning to cross the Atlantic if only Arsenal & Arsene had listened to Arsenal fans after Hector’s performance at Dortmund

·   Arsenal would have had to demand a refund from Real Madrid for Ozil because the Arsenal fans are unhappy that a super creator like Ozil is not patrolling the length and width of the pitch, clattering everybody & eye gouging anybody who stands in his way like a cojoneless Troy Deeney

· Sanchez would now be the President of N5, although at this moment, many will be up in arms and actively seeking to impeach him.

You get the picture.

It has come to the stage where Arsenal, Arsene, the boys winning is not enough. Our opponents are always shite when we win.

Many disgruntled fans made it clear last season that even if Wenger won the League, they still want him gone. Unreasonable in my opinion.

Winning the league is the only thing that matters. On that score Guardiola should have been fired last season. He had enough opportunity to change all the right backs and left backs. He chose not to. He had unlimited money to spend. He had considerable time to prepare for his first season. He didn’t. All of a sudden now, he is a genius. With all the noise about GuarDOUGHola you will think he can switch his genius button off and on as he pleases. 

Same with Jose Mourinho. He ought to be condemned to the dustbin of history. He had all the time to prepare for a title challenge at United. He came 6^th. He took Man U backwards. A team that missed Top 4 by whiskers. After spending almost a billion in the last few years, United are on course again to have another limp performance in this year’s league.

My suggestion to the fans that think they have the solution to all of the  world’s problems let alone that of the Arsenal is: GET A GRIP!

·  Arsene or someone who reports to him reads the health report of the players. Arsene knows when that player is at his optimum. Please confirm you have read such reports before moaning about substitutions or the starting 11

·  Arsene and the rest of the coaching crew see different combinations of players in defence, midfield and attack in training every day. You only see it for 90 minutes or less and you want everybody to take your word that certain combinations work better than the manager’s choice. Pfffft

· Arsene, Gazidis, Law etc. have significant experience in player transfers, contract negotiations etc. but you that can’t make head or tail out of your mobile phone contract is sounding off on social media, jumping up and down and directing Arsenal on what to do. Unbelievable

Like my previous advice on pundits who know nothing and don’t have the humility to let people know that they are bereft of ideas on certain issues,

Give the ‘KNOW IT ALLs’ a wide berth. They are frauds

Football Journalists & Pundits – Why Do We Listen To Them

 I never spare the BBC or any other media person in all of my posts on Twitter or in any of my articles.

The media / press / journalists or whatever you choose to call them, pride themselves as the Fourth Estate of the Realm a throwback to the time when Royalty reigned. In today’s democracy, they are supposed to be the group that holds the Executive, Judiciary and Legislature to account. But they are not.

Even if they are. Who holds the media to account? In most societies especially in Western style democracies, there is a body similar to the Press Complaint Commission. The reality though is that the media is unaccountable. 

Media houses ruin the reputation of individuals and apologize in the footnote of Page 109 of the index 5 months later.  How can that be fair? They hack the phones of murder victims and only get to pay peanuts 15 years later. That is not accountability.

In most countries with something of a ‘free press’, there has been as many media scandals as there are political ones.  Yet there is a huge lack of belief in politician but many still give the media a pass.

It is fair to say that the media especially in Western Countries are part of the Elite. Majority of them all attended the same elite universities; they move around in the same social circles and buy into each other’s agenda depending on their political persuasion.

There is an adulterous relationship. This is especially evident when a newspaper pays an MP almost a quarter of a million pounds to write a few words. You also find out that a senior journalist can be planted at the heart of government at the behest of an unelected Press Baron.

It is this adulterous relationship that has delivered Trump as American President and Brexit. The media has not been held to account and are allowed to promote their own version of events rather than the detail of what is actually happening or what has happened.

Don’t get me wrong, we as individual members of the public have been complicit. Especially the very gullible amongst us who take the words of these press people as gospel. We have refused to think for ourselves and once we adopt a position, we become so welded to that position that we refuse to countenance any other position. 

Like political journalists, like sports journalists. We need to all realize they have a product to sell to us. If we don’t buy they will go bankrupt and they might as well do, as there is no value to the role they are currently playing.

Some might disagree because they think they inform, they entertain, they produce content etc. I disagree. Does it matter if Amazon is the broadcaster for La Liga and the Premier League rather than SkySports? Does it matter if Facebook takes over the rights to Match of the Day rather than the BBC?

Not a jot in my opinion. We might sadly still see the same mugs on the programs but there will be a very satisfied smile on my face especially with the BBC lot knowing that those pretend pundits are not being paid from my TV licence fee. 

You might also think about all those wonderful stats that the match commentators and presenters spew before, during and after matches. Well OPTA do them without adding any bias to it. They also tend to present a more rounded set of stats rather than present only the ones that supports their bias like the media do.

What the L does it matter that Arsene Wenger hasn’t defeated Spurs in the league in 7 meetings when he has defeated them 3 times in the last 3 Cup ties?

I am perfectly happy for us to do away with the sports media and football pundits. The effing lot of them. They no longer serve any purpose especially as with the advent of Social Media they now realize their original role is redundant. Majority of what they claim to be content and exclusives nowadays have either been on social media for a week or it is stolen from their.

If I want to see how Mesut Ozil lives, I don’t have to wait for anybody to do an interview with him. I go to his social media page and splurge to my heart’s content.

If I want to understand Arsene Wenger’s football philosophy and reasons behind his tactical decisions match in, match out, I watch videos on Arsenal.com and listen with a keen ear.

If I want to genuinely understand what a disaster referee Mike Dean is, I go to whoscored.com or follow a regular person on social media who understands stats and is upfront with their bias.

Football journalists don’t understand football, they don’t understand football finances and football management yet they lay claim to speaking authoritatively on these subjects. English football journalists and media especially.

Any media person who calls Ozil a lazy footballer should have their licence to practice withdrawn. How can such a person pretend to understand football?

Pundits regularly mouth of about managers and sometimes about other players. Some of these pundits have had varying degrees of success as footballers. But how does your success as a steam rolling Number 9 helps you understand the Number 9 role a player like Alexander Lacazette plays today. I am looking at Alan Shearer here.

I doubt Shearer has never had to dribble the ball past anybody ever. What gives him the right to criticize or claim to understand Sergio Aguero’s talents?

This is before we start to talk about their criticism of managers. None of them has had anything close to a career in management. I used to heavily criticize Gary Neville before and during his time as Valencia Manager. I have piped down because Gary has displayed some form of humility since he came back to the Pundit’s couch. He now understands management better.

Football journalism and punditry today is all about gossips, click bait articles, making stuff up and generating controversy. They are constantly looking for the next manager to be fired, the next under pressure manager, the latest made up dressing room bust up and the latest manager who has never won anything but is the best since sliced bread.

It is so easy to see why they can never be enamored of a club like Arsenal and a manager like Arsene. The club doesn’t leak like a sieve. There is nothing to see here, move on but guess what, they still make stuff up.  

But when they are called out, they become crybabies. From their articles, you come away thinking these guys are so knowledgeable and would have made a success of running multiple football clubs if only they had gone into that line of work. Not true. When it comes to the crunch, they shirk responsibilities.

Imagine how they all jumped on the Everton transfer window bandwagon. Top 4 / winning the title was the target for Everton they said. All tosh. Rubbish. Mourinho and his giant basketball players were going to win the league. They were last seen struggling to beat Brighton, their big bully of a striker lashing out in frustration. I hope he gets a well-deserved ban. 

Just look at Adam Crofton and the miserable band that tried to support him. The media and their cohorts are quick to pounce on anything anti arsenal – the AGM, the defeat at Man City and Stoke. They said nothing. They were not interested only to start bleating when we defeated their darling Spuds and now Burnley.

They wheeled Troy Deeney into their studios to traduce Arsenal players. Very unprofessional of the media and of Troy Deeney.  They promote Pochettino, a manager who has won nothing and whose realistic chance of winning any silverware is between zero and nil. They give the AFTV lot the air of oxygen because they know it drains the confidence of the Arsenal squad. If there is any anti Arsenal bandwagon going, the media and pundits will jump on it.

The reaction of the majority of Arsenal fan base in the past week has been commendable. If the general public can rally against the media like the Arsenal fan base have maybe Brexit & Trump might be a thing of the past.

The power is in our hands. Stop reading, watching, listening to them. They will soon go away like a Polaroid Camera.