THE ONE WHO GOT AWAY

THE ONE WHO GOT AWAY

When someone mutters the name "Emmaunel Adebayor," the room goes silent. Men at pubs stop 

drinking their pints, kids at school start to ponder, looking into space, thinking of a comment to respond to the mention of "Ade" as he has been nicknamed. Nicknamed not only by Arsenal - but also Manchester City, Real Madrid and most recently...Tottenham Hotspur. Those two words previously hurt me. I had always heard those rumours on the BBC gossip column regarding "Adebayor to join Redknapp revolution. It had always seemed like some kind of failed April fools joke, or maybe a journalist trying to sell a couple more newspapers. It hit me however, the most recent time it happened in summer 2011, that this was not a rumour. Fast forward a little bit of time and you have Emmanuel Adebayor, posing in a Tottenham Hotspur shirt!

My mind flashed to one moment in our history. Our ex-captain Cesc Fabregas lashing the ball across the pitch, for Adebayor to flick up and volley into the top corner past the ever conceding against Arsenal, Paul Robinson. This was at a time where "Ade" was a hero at the Emirates Stadium, prompting fans to regularly believe that if you, "give him the ball, he will score." I was recently watching the Spurs game against Swansea with some mates, two of their (bad quality of course) goals being scored by the man himself. When my friend started to sing that song, I thought about how fickle football fans really are. It was, forget you not, not even a year ago, when those same fans were singing racist lyrics aimed at him. That's not to say all Spurs fans are like that, but it's funny how a villian turns a hero just like that - and vice versa. The reason I thought about that goal Adebayor scored against Spurs, is because those magic moments are what us football fans watch for. At that time, this tall Togolese striker was at the peak of his game and a hero to all of us. Despite the foul way in which he left the Arsenal and the disrespect he has shown us after leaving, we should all take a moment to appreciate what he did for us. Despite the disloyalty that he clearly has, "Ade" gave us some great moments that, maybe not all of us, will remember for a very long time. Robin van Persie has since taken over as our main man in attack and has now become even more prolific than our ex hero. Football goes on. We have to accept that loyalty in football is rare nowadays and that this same sort of situation could happen again in the near future. Emmanuel Adebayor was the one that got away, but I'm sure like we have experienced in the past and the present, a new hero will emerge in the future.

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