Celebrity Arsenal fan Piers Morgan has revealed the moment he changed his mind about Mikel Arteta as the club’s manager.
Morgan admits he was sceptical about the Spanish tactician for some time, and called for him to go when the Gunners let a top four place slip away with some poor form at the end of last season.
Now, however, Arsenal are finally seeing the benefits of the work Arteta has been doing for these last few years, with the team surprisingly five points clear at the top of the Premier League table.
Arsenal look like they could be serious title contenders, even if there are some question marks about the depth of the north Londoners’ squad.
Morgan is clearly impressed with every aspect of this Arsenal side, as he praised the players and the manager in his column for the Sun.
He also revealed that there was one moment when he watched the Arsenal Amazon documentary that made him think differently about Arteta.
“Arsenal’s transformation from mid-table mediocrity to a properly competitive team again has been stunning to watch,” Morgan wrote.
“And it’s all down to Arteta, who if I’d had my way would have been abruptly sent packing eight months ago.
“The Spaniard has shown he most definitely does have what it takes, and we saw his progression first-hand in Amazon’s All or Nothing documentary series about the club.
“At the start, when Arteta was making the players shut their eyes and hold each other’s hands, and playing them You’ll Never Walk Alone on a little radio during training before we got thrashed by Liverpool, I totally understood why big names like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang thought he was bonkers and out of his depth.
“But as the series went on, I watched Arteta grow in confidence, and saw his fiery heartfelt passion for all things Arsenal.
“I also saw him win the respect of his players and of the fans.
“The defining moment for me came when Arteta invited long-time club photographer Stuart MacFarlane to motivate the team in the dressing room before the North London derby in September 2021.
“MacFarlane looked at the players and bellowed: ‘This is my club. I f***ing love this football club. And I f***ing love all of you. When you go out, first f***ing tackle, listen to the crowd. They will f***ing be on you straight away. Win every tackle.
MORE: Arsenal set to pay €65m for world class wonderkid
“‘When you score, look in their faces. Look at their emotion, look how much they love you. Show them how much you love them, OK?’
“I loved that and so did the players, who did what they were told and won 3-1, with Arteta hugging MacFarlane at the final whistle.
“When I watched all that play out in the Amazon doc, I began to trust Arteta’s process.
“I understood he needed more time than I’d been prepared to give him, to build a team in his image — one with discipline, tenacity, flair and a winning mentality. And now he has it.”
The Mcfarlane incident took place before the Anfield experiment . Piers Morgan makes lots of noise but running a football club is about shutting out that noise and taking positive long-term decisions .
The champion of Petersen, Aubameyang and Trump needs to learn what running a football club really entails and stop spouting on Twitter