Arsenal, in their current incarnation, remind me more and more of the great but notorious Leeds side of the 1970s, not for any on-pitch psychosis they might display (they’re not vicious, anyway, just bad-tempered and petulant), but for the stuff they come out with off the field these days. Listening to the increasingly mad pronouncements of Arsene Wenger and his players, one is forced to conclude that what we have here is a serious, possibly terminal, case of persecution mania. In the third week in August.

Sol Campbell is the latest Gooner to throw his toys out of the pram, ceaselessly bleating about how those little grey men at the FA are trying to hound him out of English football, and threatening to flounce out of the national team set-up if they don’t just leave him in peace.
Why doesn’t Campbell get a grip? As a sentient adult he must know that there is no FA vendetta being conducted against him, that he is scrutinised no more than any other player, and that he is merely going through the same sort of temporary annoying patch that befell Eric Cantona about a decade ago, when he seemed to be getting sent off twice a week.
For Campbell, and Arsenal, to give out yards about a supposed FA bias against them is a bit rich given that their vice-chairman, David Dein, is one of the most senior members of that same FA. Dein spent the tail-end of last season trying desperately to quash Campbell’s four-match ban for elbowing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. It was a conflict of interests of such proportions that even Ken Bates called on Dein to resign from the FA.
Anyway, I could fill another column with all the slightly dodgy stuff that did go Arsenal’s way last season. The triple pikes of Francis Jeffers won them penalties in big games. Nothing happened to Thierry Henry when he swung his arm into the face of a Charlton player. Dennis Bergkamp threw an elbow at Lee Bowyer and got away with it, pretty much. And there were numerous players — Laurent Robert, Ivan Campo, Simon Davies, Aliou Cisse — who were sent off in games against Arsenal in circumstances that ranged from highly debatable to scandalous, and later had their second yellow cards rescinded.
After all that, for Arsenal to portray themselves as victimised outsiders is simply utter bollocks.
Campbell’s threat to quit England, childish though it may be, is lent added weight by the fact that he is plainly their best defender, especially given Rio Ferdinand’s curiously indecisive form since the last World Cup. This is why the FA’s representatives met him last week in an hilarious attempt to mollify him.
Alan Shearer pulled this stunt just before France 98, warning the FA that he would withdraw his services from England’s World Cup squad (of which he was captain) if he was hit with any disciplinary charges for booting Neil Lennon in the head.
They should have called Shearer’s bluff, and with the benefit of hindsight, it might have done their World Cup chances no harm, considering how flaccid he was in that tournament. His most notable contribution was to cost England what would have been a winning goal in Saint-Etienne, savagely elbowing the Argentinian keeper while the ball was being headed into the net by… Sol Campbell.
Which reminds me. Another thing Arsenal have in common with that old Leeds side is that they may end up winning far fewer trophies than their talent seemingly warrants. 51 dismissals in seven years (it may well be 52 by the time you read this, of course) works out as a red card every six weeks of each season. Can anyone seriously argue that it has not deprived the team of that extra four or five per cent required to overhaul Manchester United?
If it hadn’t been for Petit and Vieira’s numerous suspensions, would Arsenal still have failed to win the title in 1998-1999, instead of losing it to United by a single point on the final day?