‘I’m Not As Think As You Drunk I Am.’

5ive's return to the london club scene was perhaps too much of an incentive for pete.

A couple of headlines have arisen since my last post; both of which would seem to proliferate the idea that our squad (and the wider representation of our club in the mainstream) would be top of the league for competitive drinking. My initial question is why does it always seem to be us? The gooner media conspiracy is one thing; but the amount of times these particular headlines hit; there surely must be more to it than simply negative publicity.

Whilst Harry’s stance on this specifically comes from the viewpoint of someone who has been personally affected by drunk driving; and notably one that has also been informed by many years in the game. In these years it’s fair to say that Harry himself has seen many players fall to the wayside; and as such has a vague idea of what he’s talking about.

Whilst from the outside of the club it can be said that; ‘If I had the money; you wouldn’t really be able to keep me away from the club/ You can’t really expect players of that class to restrain themselves from living a lifestyle that isn’t representative of their salary.’ Whilst fame is major factor in this; the main issue here is that footballers should be considered as professionals; and as such should for the most part be completely focused on their job. Especially when you consider that they are at the very top of their specific career ladder.

Age as well is another assumed factor; when you consider Gio’s continued excess; (though Peter seems to have grabbed the headlines; Gio was also snapped earlier in the week back home in Mexico whilst recovering from his unfortunate injury against Preston). Can we realistically blame Gio for enjoying excess when he has come from being a successor to Ronaldinho at Barcelona, to finding himself constantly on the physio’s table and relegated to the reserves.

The saving grace of the whole situation is that we do seem to have a few great influences around the training ground; namely in our Croatian contingent; whom Harry himself cannot praise enough. This could also signal the making of Pavlyuchenko who despite a previous record from drunken shenanigans; refrains from the glitz of the London ‘scene’ much preferring a glass of wine and fine dining with his wife. With experience comes wisdom I guess.

The important thing to take away from all this; is that whilst the footballers are entitled to live their lives as they want; these kind of images and headlines do detract from the football and harm the reputation of the club; not only in relation to others; but in the eyes of the supporter. Hopefully sooner or later this will click with the players; before we really get called up on this.