Thierry Henry has left New York Red Bulls and has been touted to be making a return to Arsenal. If he does return, it’s most likely to be as part of the coaching staff, rather than as a player obviously.

But would you have Thierry Henry back as Arsenal manager? What if Thierry Henry returned as a coach for a few years and Arsene Wenger groomed him as a future Arsenal manager?

Could Thierry take us to the next level? Or would he be an Arsene Wenger MKII?

Have your say in the comments section below.

There’s no doubt that Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are the worlds best players, and have been for the last few years. Both are mercurial talents whose level of consistency are unbelievable – Messi once scored 94 goals in a calendar year, and this season alone Cristiano has a quite simply ridiculous 18 goals in 10 La Liga games already this season.

In terms of performing at the highest level, they seem to have no equals.

But are we blinded by the numbers? Should the Ballon d’Or go to someone else?

For so long, it seems that the prize only has two possible winners – Messi or Ronaldo. No matter what any other player in the world does, they don’t even come close to winning it.

And is that right?

Ronaldo is 29 years old and Messi is 27. Since 2008 the Ballon d’Or (or FIFA World Player of the Year pre-2010) has gone to one of those two players, and if the current trend continues, then it will be the same old story for the next 5/6 years.

They have already won 6 awards between them.

Have people become lazy in crowning Messi or Ronaldo as the world’s best? Have we all got caught up in the mass hysteria and hype that we can’t even see who else deserves the prize?

In the 1990’s, the winners of the Ballon d’Or (well, FIFA World Player of the Year Award pre-2010) included Lothar Matthaus, Marco Van Basten, Roberto Baggio, Romario, George Weah, Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane and Rivaldo – a wonderful selection of talent.

Then in the 2000’s we had Luis Figo, Ronaldo and Zidane again, Ronaldinho, and Kaka. Ever since then, it’s been the Ronaldo/Messi show.

They are talking about whether it will be Messi or Ronaldo this year but the fact is it’s all become a bit of a joke now. We get they’re exceptional players but surely there must be another professional footballer worthy of the prize?

We all know that nowadays it’s all about money which comes from marketability of Messi and Ronaldo – and with the “allegations” of corruption within FIFA it doesn’t surprise me that it’s always between Messi and Ronaldo. It suits their narrative and FIFA are guilty of not trying to diversify their candidates and push someone else for the prize.

We’re so obsessed with records and these guys are breaking them as the weeks and months go by – but isn’t football about more than that? Players like Zidane, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and Van Basten were just magical players – players who could light up a game with a single moment of brilliance. Have we become too focused on statistics?

But you may ask who else should even be considered to be the best player in the world over the last few years?

There are several players who have given more than a few magical moments over the last 6/7 years. How about Zlatan Ibrahimovic? Surely in the last decade he’s been deserving of a Ballon d’Or or FIFA World Player of the Year Award? He’s won a ridiculous amount of domestic titles in Italy, Spain, France and Holland. I won’t bother listing the amount of trophies he’s won or the individual awards he’s accumulated, but for someone of his talent not to even be considered for the award is crazy.

Even last year, Franck Ribery won the treble but still didn’t win the award. I cannot profess to know much about Germany football and readily admit that don’t manage to watch much of Ribery but I’m assuming he was a big part of their successes.

And I’m sure many of you reading this have a better knowledge of European and World football, and can name a string of players who could be classed as World Class footballers.

We all know that either Messi or Ronaldo will win the award again this year (and it’ll be Ronaldo in my opinion) but isn’t it time we gave it to someone else?

There’s such a thing as overkill and this is it tenfold.

We all have our opinions on Arsene Wenger and Arsenal, and I’m torn between want him to leave and wanting him to stay.

He is a great man, who has done great things. On the flip side however, he is stubborn and it seems as if he refuses to see the teams failings and refuses to address them. We’ve struggled defensively this season and Arsenal have suffered for it. Arsenal were in 8th place last week, but after wins against Borussia Dortmund and West Brom, we (briefly) sat in 4th place.

Funny how football changes so quickly isn’t it?

So when the banner was show at the West Brom game, it caused quite a stir.

In all honesty, I’m not sure what to make of it.

It’s one thing to express and opinion online, but banners are a different story. It brings the issue to the mainstream media which in a way, is probably the whole point.

My problem is that the press are going to paint these Arsenal fans as ungrateful idiots, which is an unfair picture. Arsenal fans know more than most about their own football club and we all know the failings of Arsene Wenger and the board.

I just hope this move doesn’t come to bite us in the Arsenal.

Arsenal have played two tough games in the space of four days and we’ve managed to keep two clean sheets.

We played Borussia Dortmund at home in the Champions League, and West Brom away.

When Arsene were 1-0 up midweek, Martinez made an excellent save to deny Dortmund an equaliser. And today, he was excellent today.

Confident and assured, the young goalkeeper started in the Champions League on Wednesday and made his Premier League debut today and kept two clean sheets.

In comparison, Szczesny has played 15 games in the league this season and only kept 3 clean sheets.

With Szczesny in goal there’s always a feeling that we can concede a facial goal and the same thing happened again when we played Manchester United. For their first goal, the whole situation was “typical Arsenal” as Gibbs collided into Szczesny. Szczesny has improved over the last few years and that is not in any doubt, but for some reason we seem shaky at the back – is it because the defence don’t have confidence in him?

In contrast, we defended really well as a unit on Wednesday and today and it is no coincidence that Martinez is on the pitch. The 22 year old Argentinian is a confident goalkeeper who is decisive and makes the right decisions. Szczesny on the other hand is capable of making stupid mistakes and losing his head.

Szczesny is going to be out for at least a couple of weeks and Arsene Wenger should really consider keeping Emiliano Martinez as first choice for now, and giving him a proper run in the team.

1. He’s Stubborn

It’s his way or the highway. He doesn’t listen to anyone else and makes the same mistakes over and over again. You have Steve Bould who was a graduate of the George Graham school of defending yet he can’t put his ideas across. Like Pat Rice, all Bouldy does it put the cones out for training and sit silently next to Arsene Wenger on match days.

2. The State Of The Defence Is His Fault

Every man and his dog was calling for defensive reinforcements but what happened? We’re in a ridiculous position where Nacho Monreal is playing in central defence. We sold Thomas Vermaelen and released Bacary Sagna, and brought in Calum Chambers and Mathieu Debuchy. We were threadbare at the back anyway so at least two more defensive players should have come in.

But if that wasn’t bad enough, he still could solve our problems by playing Chambers in his natural position (in the middle) and Hector Bellerin on the right.

And even worse still, we put Carl Jenkinson, who is a top player and been waiting patiently for his change, on loan! Are you insane? When Bacary Sagna was out at the start of the 2012/2013 season, he was excellent in those 10 or so games. He has proved he is a capable player and to loan him out is highly negligent.

So even without the new defensive recruits he still could have a half decent alternative but he’s so blind to other ways to solve the defensive problem.

3. He Cannot Influence Games From The Bench

One of the most important things a manager has in his locker is the ability to change games from the bench, and Arsene Wenger is extremely poor at this. In fact, he is incompetent.

Managers like Jose Mourinho are experts at reading a game, predicting how the match is going to pan out and then make the required changes accordingly. But Arsene is blind to any of this.

The only “move” Arsene Wenger has in his locker is when we’re losing and he decides to throw on about three more attackers. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But what kind of top flight manager gets beaten 6-0 at Chelsea, 6-1 at Liverpool, and 6-3 at Manchester City? Surely once you realise that the game is going away from you and you’re getting completely dominated you try and keep the score to a respectable level? Arsene Wenger is clueless from the bench and you never feel confident that he could change a game with a tactical tweak or a clever substitution. We lead 1-0 at Swansea and 3-0 at home to Anderlecht for Christ’s sake and still didn’t win either game.

4. He Never Considers The Opposition

He has always said that he always concentrates on how his team plays but he never even considers the opposition. Against the big teams we simply go all out attack and get caught on the break over and over again. How do you explain the embarrassing score lines at Stamford Bridge, Anfield and The Etihad Stadium? Teams lower down the league always setup their sides to contain the opponents biggest threats yet we seem completely ignorant to any of this. Is it laziness? Or sheer arrogance?

Whatever it is, unless this is rectified then we will continue to get embarrassed against the top sides on a consistent basis. I’m sure you’ve seen the awful record Arsenal have against Manchester United, and it’s even more damning when you consider in the last two seasons we have faced the worst Manchester United teams in the last 20 years, and that is no exaggeration.

5. He Never Criticises The Players

This was a trait which I used to admire but for the last couple of seasons he’s spouting the same old shite over and over again. We were unlucky, the referee was poor, blah, blah blah. There is no culpability at the club and players are left to do what they want – and make the same stupid mistakes repeatedly. At other clubs if a player made a mistake then they would get a blocking in the dressing room but at Arsenal it’s swept under the carpet.

The players will never learn if that are consistently allowed to make the same schoolboy errors all the time. The players at Arsenal are pampered and wrapped up in cotton wool and that is the managers fault.

6. He Never Listens To Anyone Else, Especially The Fans

Every press conference I watch these days is awkward to watch. This season in particular, there are perfectly legitimate questions which Arsenal supporters should be asking yet when these questions are posed to him he always dismisses them as idiotic statements and gets all defensive. It shows that he thinks he’s always right and is never wrong.

Of course, he does have a wealth of knowledge and knows more about the game than you or I will ever know, but to dismiss any criticism as stupid is very counter-productive. No-one is perfect but he seems to think he is.

And this reaction to these reasonable questions is disrespectful to the fans. The very fans which pay the highest ticket prices in the country and yet have no trophies to show for it. The fans who turn up week in, week out and buy all the merchandise, football shirts, etc. yet get no answers. If anyone has a slight criticism of Arsenal, they are sent to the guillotine.  Remember the ridiculously unnecessary outburst against Paul Merson?

7. He Has Too Much Power

The bottom line is he can do what he wants. He makes vast sums of money for the shareholders and that’s what makes them happy. No-one at the club can even question his ideas and methods and he is untouchable.

That’s why even though a lot of fans have had enough and want him out, he will never get sacked. Ever. Even if Arsenal got relegated, he would spin it in such a way that he wouldn’t get the boot. Arsene Wenger literally has a job for life.

8. His Football Ideologies Are Old And Dated

He is stuck in the past. I don’t think many news outlets picked up on the comment he made a couple of weeks ago, but he basically said that in the last 10 years the game hasn’t changed.

What?!

Are you serious?

On the other side of the coin when Jose Mourinho was asked if Chelsea could emulate Arsenal’s Invincible’s seasons he said no, because football was a different game 10 years ago.

It goes to show how far from reality Arsene Wenger actually is.

Jose Mourinho is a massive bell end, but he is one hell of a manager. The amount of success he’s had in the last decade is quite frankly astonishing – at FC Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid he has won absolutely everything – several times. He knows the game, how to win and carefully prepares for every game with a fine tooth comb. In terms of the big bucks, Jose Mourinho is a manager who earns his massive salary. Say what you want about him, the fact is he is one of the best managers the game has ever seen.

In contrast, Arsene Wenger uses the same old methods he used 17 years ago. And how has that worked out for him?

In the last 9 seasons we’ve got an FA Cup triumph to show for it. In that time, Jose Mourinho… actually, I’m not going to count up the number of trophies he’s won because it would make for depressing reading. But you get the point.

Arsene Wenger is one of the best paid managers in world football yet struggles to bring any success to the club.

9. The Arsenal Board Are Spineless

We have a situation where Arsene Wenger is the king who has ultimate power at the club. He is not accountable for anything and while Arsene has engineered this situation for himself, some of the blame for this happening has to go to the board.

They don’t care about the fans or winning trophies, and only about the amount of money they are making from the club. We have farcical situation where we have the majority shareholder never speaks – and despite being the main shareholder for a few years not one fan has any idea what the hell is going on. Does he have a plan for the club? What’s his vision for the future? Does anyone know?

The board doesn’t have anyone who wants to drive the club forward, anyone with any ambition. They are more than happy to stay in this state of purgatory and have no intention of driving the club to any real success. As long as the fans are forking out the ridiculous amount of money they are to fill the pockets of the shareholders, that’s all that matters.

10. The Fans Have Just Had Enough

I’ve been an Arsenal fan for the best part of 25 years and I’ve never seen Arsenal fans so disillusioned. Some fans knew what was going to happen way back in 2005, saying that Arsene Wenger had no idea and we’d be stuck fighting for 4th place for the next 10 years. Well that is what has happened and even those firm Arsene supporters are now losing faith.

The problem is it’s the same old story year after year. You can laugh at Liverpool and Manchester United but you know deep down they’ll win something eventually. Even in the 2000’s Liverpool win things like the Champions League. And even though Manchester United were a shambles last season, you know that within 2/3 years they’ll be fighting for the biggest titles.

But we know for a fact that will never happen at Arsenal. We are rewarded for mediocrity and it’s been so long now since Arsene won the Premier League that I don’t honestly believe he has what it takes to lead a team to the title. He literally doesn’t know how to do it.

Jose Mourinho is a born winner and the players believe in him. When Mourinho joins a football club, the players and fans all know they will fight at the very top. With Arsene, you know that we’ll be fighting for 4th place and nothing more.

He’s not the man to take us to the next level, and the fans know it. His ideas are stale, he makes the same mistakes and is too stubborn to take any advice. Players like Samir Nasri, Robin van Persie, Gael Clichy, Cesc Fabregas, Kolo Toure, Thierry Henry and even Jose Antonio Reyes and Alexander Song have left Arsenal and won major honours.

The fans don’t believe anymore and neither do the players. Once a proper team come along that compete for titles come sniffing around, they’re gone.