Bob Wilson, a don of matters goalkeeping in the colours of Arsenal, summed up the sentiments prompted by an unexpected local move with typical candour. “The Arsenal fans thought it was Christmas – just a ridiculous decision, to allow him to go to the old enemy.”
The words seem apt in the current climate about Petr Cech’s transfer across the capital, but they were uttered almost 40 years ago. Pat Jennings, the man with hands as big as frying pans and an unflappable calmness of spirit, was 32 when, as a Tottenham hero, he nipped to a neighbouring London borough and joined Arsenal.
Like Cech, the move was surprising and emotionally charged. The questions it raised ranged from how much impact Jennings could have to whether he would be significantly past his prime. It turned out extraordinarily well for Arsenal. The Northern Irishman became a central influence in the dressing room and the team instantly and he played on with distinguished class for another eight years.
If Cech ended up at Arsenal because of Roman Abramovich’s goodwill gesture, the opposite stance from Tottenham’s board prompted Jennings to make his controversial switch. He recalls going to say farewell to his team-mates as they were heading on a pre-season tour of Sweden and he knew he would be gone by the time they returned, with a number of clubs all over England pursuing him once Tottenham decided against renewing his contract. As for the directors, as Jennings recalls in the documentary Big Pat, “every one of them walked past me in the car park and totally blanked me”. That attitude provoked Jennings to choose Arsenal, because it suited him to stay in London and because he knew it would embarrass the board that he felt showed him scant respect for 13 years’ service.
Towards the end of Jennings’ career, in 1983, Eamonn Andrews marched on to the pitch at the end of a north London derby at White Hart Lane to surprise the goalkeeper for This Is Your Life. Part of the programme’s format, in celebrating national treasures, was to collar them when they least expected it and Andrews grabbed Jennings in front of a 50,000 crowd with both colours holding him in the highest esteem. “I don’t believe it,” said a stunned Jennings. “What a place to happen as well.”
Wilson chooses the word “presence” to sum up what Jennings delivered when he walked in at Highbury. “Naturally gifted, unique style, everything about him gave him this presence,” he said.
It is that charisma and stature on the pitch and, more generally, around the club that makes Arsenal’s signing of Cech so important. The qualities he has beyond his pure goalkeeping technique are the characteristics Arsène Wenger will be welcoming with open arms. All those years of winning, organising and working with the most efficient defensive unit in the Premier League in recent years can make an impression every day on the training ground at London Colney. Those incremental percentages he can inspire may be the difference between a loss and a draw, or a draw and a win, come matchday. Cech’s interview at his unveiling underlined how he sees his job as bringing something extra. He is, he says, “as hungry as ever”.
That notion is reminiscent of another veteran goalkeeper Arsenal signed who made his presence felt from day one. When Jens Lehmann joined in 2003, he walked into a team used to winning (Arsenal had clinched the Double in 2002 and the FA Cup in 2003) but the German brought a level of intensity that forced everyone to up their game. Patrick Vieira, the captain, described it by putting his hand by his head to demonstrate the pre-Lehmann winning mentality, and then raising it higher to show the post-Lehmann levels.
“Jens was a nightmare sometimes,” Vieira once said, “but he brought something. Jens argued with every single player in training. Because he wants you to get concentrated, he wants you to work hard, he wants you to win.
“If you are in his team and you think ‘OK, today I am just going to look after myself’ Jens will not accept a player giving 70% or 80%. He expects 100%. Jens brought us to a different level in terms of the winning mentality.”
There seems to be genuine excitement from Arsenal’s players who offered social media welcomes to Cech that not only did they look forward to playing with him, but also learning from him. They want him to push them to a higher level as Lehmann did. They hope for some of that presence that Jennings had to help the entire team when it comes to defending set pieces.
There is little doubt that the Czech international makes that department considerably stronger. He is five inches taller than David Ospina, whose range can be limiting at times. He has a more mature style than Wojciech Szczesny, who can have his offbeat moments.
Goalkeepers are not usually the most thrilling of signings but the scale of Cech’s benefits could prove invaluable.