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There’s still a slim chance that when Arsenal take the field
against Manchester United in the FA Cup Final next month, they’ll
be without Thierry Henry which, when you’re looking for crumbs
of comfort going into a game that could salvage something from a
miserable Mancunian season, is about as good a bit of news as you
could wish for.
For with all due respect to the likes of Reyes and Van Persie, even
to the genius that is Bergkamp, there is no striker in the Premier
League who can put the fear of God into you quicker than Thierry
Henry, the man who once again looks ready to carry off this year’s
Golden Boot as the top flight’s top scorer.
That’s no surprise for ever since Arsene Wenger lured him away
from Juventus to Highbury, Henry’s progress has been nothing
but serene, laying waste to defences up and down the country season
after season. Before injury stopped him in his tracks a few weeks
ago, he looked certain to go past Ian Wright’s all-time
goalscoring record for the Gunners, but becalmed as he currently
is on 181, he’s still four goals short of Wrighty’s mark.
Even so, if the mood takes him, Henry could drag himself level over
the course of just 90 minutes, because when he’s at his best,
nobody can pulverize a defence into submission like Henry.
There’s an argument to say that Henry’s greatest successes
have only come at Premiership level where he has bolstered his goals
tally by bullying the weaker sides, a footballing Graeme Hick, devastating
at domestic level without ever quite carrying that onto the world
stage. That’s unfair on a player with more than a couple of
dozen international goals to his name along with World Cup and European
Championship winners’ medals and well over 30 goals in the
Champions League to boot, but it’s Arsenal’s failure to
go on and really succeed in Europe that is the only blight on his
copybook.
Critics argue that a genuinely all-time great player is the kind
that drags his side, kicking and screaming if necessary, onwards
towards the biggest prize. And all the while Arsenal fail to turn
their undoubted brilliance into a European Cup win, questions will
continue to be asked about Henry, just as they are about Wenger.
Unfair perhaps, but that is the brutal reality of sport at the very
highest level.
Sport has its other brutal realities too of course, and in football,
the uglier side of the game often revolves around the stupidity
of racism, an issue that has once again been on the agenda this
season as boneheads across Europe look to abuse genius on the basis
of its colour.
For all that Henry is a player of unforgettable gifts, perhaps his
most important contribution this season has come in the fight against
racism, not least after the Spanish coach Luis Aragones insulted
him during the course of a coaching session, comments supposedly
aimed at improving the performance of his Arsenal colleague Jose
Antonio Reyes. In the wake of that and other incidents across Europe,
Henry decided that the time had come to stand up and be counted.
In combination with a number of top players and with the help of
Nike, Henry instigated the Stand Up Speak Up foundation to protest
against the way in which racists are allowed to get away with it.
As the foundation’s mission statement says, “The campaign
aims to encourage the 'silent majority' of non-racist fans to speak
up against racist abuse in stadiums.” Henry has played a fundamental
role in promoting the campaign, making himself its most vocal proponent,
saying, “Racism is the biggest problem facing football across
Europe. People may think it has disappeared, but it hasn’t.
It’s time for us all to take a stand – players, fans and
authorities. It’s time to stand up and speak up.”
It’s a sporting tragedy that Henry, like Cyrille Regis, John
Barnes and Ian Wright before him has to talk about issues of stupidity,
for it takes valuable time away from thinking about Henry the footballer.
No current day player in the Premier League has quite the same magical
mixture of pace, close control, vision and the rapier sharp instinct
for a goalscoring
opportunity that he has and in full flight, Henry is perhaps the
most stunning sight in the game.For the neutral, the most breathtaking
thing about Thierry Henry is that he won’t be 28 until the
start of next season which, according to Wenger, means that his
best years are still stretching out ahead of him. Carry on Henry!
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