A couple of hours ago, I got off the phone with a fellow musician friend of mine who was telling an amazing piece of news about potentially replacing basically a household name musician in a household name band. Obviously the news was incredibly beautiful and I’m very proud of them and the more we talked, the more confident I felt about it all.
During the conversation we touched up on the elephant in the room that we both perceived, which is the fact that they are considerably different than the legend they are replacing, and when I say different I meant DIFFERENT. Although they are excited about the potential life changing situation, they are at peace with the fact that they are different altogether and that trying to replace a legend is almost pointless.
Of course this made me think about football and out AWFC squad. I personally feel we have many legends. Kim, Katie, Leah and Beth will be considered legends in my book, and so will Steph Catley as a matter of fact. They are irreplaceable players, just like Viv is, just like Jen and Jordan are.
This doesn’t mean that there won’t be anyone close to them or better, what I’m getting at is the ideal of having to “replace” someone as a “like for like” acquisition. Aka a forward for a forward, etc. I have a hard time with all of this as a whole specially because of the pressure that it can be put on a player, whether they care about it or not, because that pressure is something that WE as fans carry, as pressure is something the players are used to and a lot of them thrive because of it.
Imagine being asked to be the next Kim Little. Well, good luck. You’re not going to be the next Kim. Nobody is. However, I do feel that sometimes it gets blurry as many people just want to will a player that they like into the level of a literal legend. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again but if you’re looking for Pelova or KCC to be as good as Kim Little, I don’t think it’s fair to anyone as they need to be, as Simone Biles says: the first one of THEM.
But just as an exercise I started thinking about what it would be like if someone called me to replace a world renowned drummer or percussionist. This got me thinking and my anxiety, in a good way, loved that situation and it’s also something that I visualize often but that’s a topic for another day.
I got on the treadmill and continued these thoughts while The Overlap was playing on my YouTube on the TV. Roy Keane and Gary Neville were chatting about Bruce Springsteen and I immediately thought how insane it would be for me to follow their current percussionist. I would be absolutely petrified, but only if they were looking for another version of Ivan. The first version of me? bring it. But having to sing, be a showman, aside from all the incredible attributes he possesses, would be a bridge to far in my humble opinion.
So at some point we need to trust. Players have to trust the board and of course, they would also have to trust the current manager… I don’t know how anyone would but again, yet another topic for another day.
Caldentey cannot be expected to just be what Viv was because we have seen how Viv, because of the current manager and his lack of aptitude, even VIV HERSELF couldn’t be her, again and to make it clear, conditioned by how the current manager behaved and carried out his vision.
I do have to say that if were to bet as to who the next “legend” for arsenal women will be I would say Daphne. I believe that she is going to elevate us to higher levels very, very soon.
d ❤
THAT ARSENAL WOMEN PODCAST on:
You can listen to my music HERE
A very subjective look into AWFC 
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