Poet: Thierry Henry wouldn’t have survived at Arsenal in this era

Football presenter Poet has told William Hill’s Stripped Podcast that he believes Thierry Henry wouldn’t have made it at Arsenal in the modern era based on his slow start to life at the club.

While Henry went on to become Arsenal’s all-time top scorer with 228 goals, the Frenchman managed just one league goal in his first three months at the club, and Poet feels he wouldn’t have been shown the same patience by the Gunners today.

Speaking to William Hill’s Stripped Podcast, a new series in which ex-footballers and celebrities are invited to take a trip down memory lane by revisiting their favourite shirts, Poet said: “For some strange reason, I backed the players we signed no matter what back in the day. When Thierry Henry signed, his first five months, he wouldn’t have survived in this era. He never would have survived in this era. Henry had a horrid time. I think he scored one goal against Southampton away, and then the next in the league he scored against Derby was in November. He wouldn’t have survived in this day. But at the end of the season, he had scored 26 goals in all!

“Then Euro 2000 comes and Henry at the Euros was fire, absolute fire. I remember the blue France shirt. The collar, it was just a beautiful shirt. Henry was wearing the jersey and leading the line for France, so just to know that Arsenal had one of the world’s greatest strikers and it’s Thierry Henry… Two years later and he scores a goal and says he did it for the West Indies. Yeah, I love Thierry Henry. That was almost the transition, the Euros. I was like, yeah, he’s my guy.”

Another player that Arsenal fan Poet was an admirer of growing up was Ian Wright, who he says was a huge inspiration to him.

“Ian Wright wasn’t the reason I supported Arsenal to be fair, it was Paul Merson. But Ian Wright is a rebel, the black sheep in school,” he said. “Where he’s come from and what he represents, he is one of the most important footballers of my entire life. No one comes close. Especially within British black culture, he is by far the most important person.

“Ian Wright had a gold tooth, he didn’t care what anyone said, and he accused Peter Schmeichel of racism in 1997 – before Raheem Sterling and all of these guys. He’s just a man who spoke his mind and the truth, especially considering the way football likes to cover and fabricate things. He was one of the first guys to speak out. He’s a legend, and in the world of football he is the most integral black man.”

Poet also touched on why he feels the golden age of football ended in 2006.

“The best era of football ended in 2006 or 2005, for me,” he said. “I don’t like things being stats led like they are now. I liked the fact that you need to make a bit of an effort, and before 2006 you had to put in that effort for football. That’s how you had Fabio Cannavaro winning the Ballon d’Or, it wasn’t going to be someone who got the most goals. If it was the most goals, Henry would’ve won it over Pavel Nedved in 2003.

“So, I just think the fact that you had to actually watch the game at that point in order for you to understand… Roy Keane was Player of the Year in 2000 bro, Roy Keane. I don’t see situations manifesting like that nowadays, mostly because the game is bigger and there are too many people involved now which means more ignorant people involved, which just makes football rubbish.”