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Slipperduke

The Camden Cad
Joined
Aug 24, 2004
Messages
4,333
Location
North London
Cheat. Liar. Criminal. Who would have thought that these would have been the words we would eventually associate with the much-loved, oft-celebrated Thierry Henry? Well, me, actually. For all the magnificence that he has shown on the pitch over the years, he has been like this for a few years now. His decline began, not with that nefarious handball at the Stade de France, but with an emotional outburst way back in 2006. Arsenal had just been beaten in the Champions League Final by Barcelona and Henry was fuming at the underhand behaviour of some of his opponents.

"Next time I'll learn to dive maybe," he raged after the game, "but I'm not a woman." Fine words indeed, but it was only a matter of weeks before he was fitted for his first training bra. Nudged in the chest by Carlos Puyol in France's World Cup second round clash with Spain, Henry collapsed to the ground clutching his face as if his nose was about to fall off. He rolled, he wailed, he slumped motionless as if the pain had grown too severe and he had been taken from this earthly plain. It was genuinely moving. France scored from the resulting free-kick and Spain were eliminated.

Worse was to come the following season when Wigan visited The Emirates Stadium. Darting in from the flanks, Henry zipped past Emerson Boyce cut into the touchline and then crashed to the turf. Boyce hadn't touched him. No-one had touched him. Most upsettingly, Henry's head was turning towards the referee before he'd even hit the ground. He knew what he was doing. He was replacing his training bra with an expensive set of lingerie. He was buying up romantic comedies with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. He was putting the toilet seat down after using it.

The strangest thing about 'the hand of Frog' is that people seem surprised by Henry's duplicitious nature, as if he's always been a wonderful example for children across the globe. He might have been once, but not for the last three years. Let's call him what he is. He's a cheat. He might argue that he did what he had to do, he might claim that in a game of such importance the end always justifies the means, but let's not lose sight of that one salient fact. He's a cheat. Ireland may well have lost the penalty shoot-out, France might have qualified legitimately, but now we'll never know.

France won't win the World Cup, not unless the woefully inept Raymond Domenech is shown the door anyway. They are far less than the sum of their parts, there is little to no leadership in their ranks and what goes around comes around. Football karma is the most powerful force in this universe. France will get what they deserve and so, more pertinently, will Henry. His reputation is in tatters, he is almost universally reviled and, like all those who have come before him, like Diego Maradona, Jurgen Klinsmann and Rivaldo, he will be remembered in years to come as little more than a rotten cheat.
 
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Worse was to come the following season when Wigan visited The Emirates Stadium. Darting in from the flanks, Henry zipped past Emerson Boyce cut into the touchline and then crashed to the turf. Boyce hadn't touched him. No-one had touched him. Most upsettingly, Henry's head was turning towards the referee before he'd even hit the ground. He knew what he was doing. He was replacing his training bra with an expensive set of lingerie. He was buying up romantic comedies with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. He was putting the toilet seat down after using it.

Agree with most of the article, except this. No-one has mentioned this before and no-one remembers this. He is not remembered in history for this, unlike maybe Pedersen or Ronaldo or Drogba, for their shockingly bad dives. Pires was more of a "diver" at Arsenal than Henry. Alot of English players "go down easy" too. Rooney fooled the referee into giving a penalty against Sol Campbell to end Arsenal's glorious unbeaten run. That was something that was glossed over at the time also.
 
. Rooney fooled the referee into giving a penalty against Sol Campbell to end Arsenal's glorious unbeaten run. That was something that was glossed over at the time also.

Very true. Didnt Rooney dive for a pen in a World Cup qualifier the other week? How about Own against the Argies? There is some uproar on this board but if Barney scores a hand of goal winner at the weekend will be asking for the game to be replayed?

I see why Slipper calls Henry a cheat, but if he had committed the same crime on the halfway line and the French had not scored I dont suppose anyone would have remembered.

O'Shea blatantly shoved Anelka with both hands in the back and got away with it, but I dont see anyone calling him a cheat.

Unfortunately its part of the game. Until something changes we will just have to put up with it.
 
No-one has mentioned this (Wigan) before and no-one remembers this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN2u-JZesBc

I was astonished that everyone ignored this. It was a time when Henry was untouchable and I think I was one of the few to write about it.

Sorry for the rubbish clip. This morning there was a full length version with Andy Gray saying, "Ooh, he's just lost his footing." For some reason it doesn't seem to be there anymore.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN2u-JZesBc

I was astonished that everyone ignored this. It was a time when Henry was untouchable and I think I was one of the few to write about it.

Sorry for the rubbish clip. This morning there was a full length version with Andy Gray saying, "Ooh, he's just lost his footing." For some reason it doesn't seem to be there anymore.

and to back up your point, if Henry is going to take the moral high-ground and complain about diving then he's gonna get it 10 times worse when he starts doing it himself.

Gerrard is exactly the same:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVb2gbMtN3I
 
and to back up your point, if Henry is going to take the moral high-ground and complain about diving then he's gonna get it 10 times worse when he starts doing it himself.

Gerrard is exactly the same:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVb2gbMtN3I

exactly right but until someone does something about it, if a player wins a game by diving they will continue to do so.

They should be retrospectively banned if caught diving no question but the law relating to a foul needs to be clarified. People go on about contact but often there can be contact but not enough to make someone fall over, in which case it isnt a foul.

The Gerrard dive against Sheff Utd where there was intent of contact was totally ridiculous
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN2u-JZesBc

I was astonished that everyone ignored this. It was a time when Henry was untouchable and I think I was one of the few to write about it.

Sorry for the rubbish clip. This morning there was a full length version with Andy Gray saying, "Ooh, he's just lost his footing." For some reason it doesn't seem to be there anymore.

I do agree that there should have been more made of it. When an English player (someone who is a regular for the England team) dives, it is very quickly glossed over in our media, for obvious reasons.

Hmm Andy Gray saying something not true, surely not?! And did he, erm, lose his footing? :)

I think your summary is correct of Henry overall but also feel you could quite easily make the same summary with someone like Rooney (combining his post-match comments/rants with his past "dives").
 
I do agree that there should have been more made of it. When an English player (someone who is a regular for the England team) dives, it is very quickly glossed over in our media, for obvious reasons.

Hmm Andy Gray saying something not true, surely not?! And did he, erm, lose his footing? :)

I think your summary is correct of Henry overall but also feel you could quite easily make the same summary with someone like Rooney (combining his post-match comments/rants with his past "dives").

I agree, and I always do my best to be objective.. I'm hated by Liverpool fans in Singapore for my continual accusations towards Steven Gerrard who, as has been pointed out here, is one of the worst divers in the league. Chelsea fans aren't too keen on me either after I wrote a column poking fun at John Terry's assertion that 'the English don't dive'.

That's how I roll, y'see. I'm so dangerous that I don't even play by my own rules. Taking on the world from the comfort of my spare room.
 
henry is a disgrace. his career will now be remembered for that hand ball. i would love to know how he is feeling right now.

anyone know how the french have reacted to this, knowing they only got through due to being cheats?

if that we rooney doing that i would not want to be in the world cup if the only way he could get there was to cheat.
 
i had a teleconference with some people in Paris today, I really had to bite lip and stop myself from bringing it up!
 
Seeing all the publicity this has generated, can you imagine if it had been England and not Ireland in this position. We really would never hear the end of it.
 
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