Arsenal remind us of their English heritage in their win over Manchester United

The distinctive poppy embroidered onto Arsenal players’s red and white home kit in their crunch game with Manchester United this weekend, not only served to commemorate Remembrance Sunday but also served to remind the viewers that the traditions of this football club remain quintessentially English.

Arsenal Football Club was the only club in the premier league to pay their respects in this way.

After the high profile game, the shirts were signed by the players and they are to be auctioned and raffled in aid of The Royal British Legion and Help for Heroes - two organisations that support servicemen and women and their families.

Arsenal Chairman, Peter Hill-Wood said: “The players are very proud to wear this shirt and remember those who’ve given their lives for our freedom. We hope these very special shirts can raise vital funds for those who have served and are currently serving in the Armed
Forces.”

Arsenal Football Club also lay a poppy wreath at Islington’s Green War Memorial after the game on Saturday.

The North London club also work extensively in the community. Their chosen charity for the 2007-08 campaign – Treehouse – raised £250,000 for a new sports facility at the autism charity’s new education centre three miles from the Emirates stadium.

English vision

As customary, only one Englishman, young Theo Walcott, made Arsenal’s starting 11 on Saturday, and the precocious talent of 16-year-old Jack Wilshire warmed the bench.

Manchester United, in contrast, began the game with four established English internationals – Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick and Wayne Rooney.

Many have been vexed by the fact that a top four side in the English premier league can be so bereft of English players.

And indeed, it was a young Frenchman on display, Samir Nasri, whose skill and talent bagged him a winning brace.

But as Manchester United manager, Alex Ferguson, commented after the game it was a match of “fantasy football” and the pace, vision and passing of both sides was very much in the mould of some English greats.

Nasri’s industrious play and creative vision could well be likened to World Cup winner and ex-Arsenal legend, Alan Ball.

Compare below, Nasri's second goal against Manchester United on Saturday, with glimpses of the late Alan Ball's ability in his tribute video:





English ownership

Arsenal is the only top four premiership club to have not bowed to foreign ownership, despite mounting pressure.

According to a recent article in the Mail, the Hill-Wood and Bracewell-Smith families have been represented on Arsenal’s board for three generations, some 90 and 70 years respectively.

Chairman, Peter Hill-Wood, has insisted the club’s ownership will stay in the hands of those who have “Arsenal in their blood” and resist the increasing involvement of billionaire overseas investors Stan Kroenke and Alisher Usmanov, who between them control around 36 per cent of the club's shares.

Modest transfer dealings

The contentious departure of long-serving vice Chairman of Arsenal, David Dein, last year, has been widely linked to his contrary views concerning foreign ownership.

Dein has urged Arsenal’s board to rethink and sell-out to the Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov in order to geuinuely compete for titles.

In an interview with The Telegraph newspaper, Dein said: “He [Usmanov] would change the whole dynamic of the club. At Arsenal, something has to break".

But it is the board’s traditional outlook that continues to resist the big money market in football.
Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, too has a traditonal approach to spending. Samir Nasri has been the club’s most expensive purchase to date – a reported £12.6m from Marseille Football Club this summer.

Despite this relative modesty in transfer dealings – Manchester City’s foreign owners, Abu Dhabi, funded the signing of Brazilian Robinho for £32.5m – Arsenal appear to have the money to spend, declaring a pre-tax profit of £36.7m in September this year.

Arsenal’s vital win over Manchester United this weekend might re-invigorate hopes of a title winning campaign, but doubts linger as to whether their traditional English board and frugal French manager could still leave them without silverware for a fourth consecutive season.