Let's talk Thierry Henry and the Ballon d'or

I don’t need to be reminded how great this man was for us but I’m sat here watching premier league legends on Netflix and it’s Henry’s turn. How on earth did this guy never win the most prestigious personal award a player can win, easily the best striker in the world for a minimum of 3 seasons straight, the only things Ng missing from his repitoire at Arsenal is a CL winner medal.

The goals, the runs, the class. I don’t think we’ll ever see another player of us quality.

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The fact Nedved won it over him was absolutely laughable.

He had nothing on Henry

Balón d’Or is a joke. Too many voters. It’s like the American presidency.

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I definitely think Henry should have won one, but I think it’s harsh to say Nedved didn’t deserve it to be honest. That was the best year of his career. He was a massive influence in Juve getting to the CL final. I honestly think they’d actually have won it had he not got booked in the semi final and therefore suspended.

Pretty sure Thierry Henry wasn’t even second favourite that year. Maldini was – he won the CL that year. Which I think is where Henry was at a disadvantage. He was at his peak with us – but we never did much on the European stage.

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Nedved won it that year cos he got Juventus to the CL final, being maybe their best player.

I love Thierry but he did fuck all for us in Europe, along with the rest of the team in those days. (Apart from that Inter game in 2003 where he roasted Zanetti.) That’s what cost him in the end.

If you don’t show European success then it’s very hard for you to get it.

The one year where he got us to a CL run, to the final was the closest he got to winning it I think, but unfortunately he bottled the final and Ronaldinho won it because he won the CL.

And then he lost the WC final to Italy and Cannavaro won the other award as the world cup winning captain and colossus, fair play.

If he gave more big performances in finals he may have got one.

However, yeah, Ballon D’Or really means nothing, just a marketing gimmick for dipshits and Ronaldo/Messi fangirls.

Fixed that for you. All of Messi’s have been deserved, something that can’t be said for Ronaldo, so yeah, Messi fangirls don’t really like the Balón d’Or, with reason.

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Nedved was an amazing players. I think he thoroughly deserved it in 2003.

Think Sneijder or Robben could have got one of Messis, and some of his fangirls can be just as bad.

We were never big enough in Europe for Henry to win it. No matter if he was the best striker for a certain period.

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I tend to agree with Arsene that individual awards have no place in football.

Messi would’ve won it every since 2009 has it mattered…

He simply didn’t win one because we didn’t perform well enough in the Champions League, he defiantly deserved one though.,

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I do agree that the reason he didn’t win it is because of our relatively poor European results…but for the award of who is the best player in the world that itself is fucking ridiculous. There’s no doubt in my mind he was exactly that at least one of those years.

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I think personal awards are nice, it’s a nice tradition I think, but they make no sense under the current system where it’s just given to the best player on the team that wins the most, or the best player on the team that wins the second most if there’s no great candidate on that team.

If you’re going to do individual awards, award it to the best player in that calendar year, period.

If not, call it something else-- Player with the Most Fantastic Calendar Year Considering Team Achievements, or some shit like that :joy:. Don’t call it Balón d’Or for the footballer of the year because that’s not actually what it is (and it gets dull madridistas all confused and worked up).

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I agree it definitely needs changing, I’m just not sure it’s possible to find a way to ignore bias or ignoring (to a relative extent) team achievements. If they don’t change it they should just scrap it

Technically it’s ‘player of the year’ isn’t it? Or is that the other one.

So that could mean any player who has had an outstanding year, with great achievements etc. or new levels of performance, not necessarily the best player in the world for that year you know?

That was before it got hijacked by the Ronaldo Messi mareting thing and Blatter used it for FIFA publicity etc as well.

Personally, I’d have liked to see Robben win it in 2013, Neymar in 2015 (but Messi was a worthy winner then tbh too, so it swings) and Suarez in 2016.

Oh and I’d love to see Salah win it this year, but let’s see

That sounds like the ‘Spread it Around/You Can Only Win it Once Award’ :grimacing:

Imo it’s a bit boring just giving it to Messi and Ronaldo every year just because they are Messi and Ronaldo.

Messi and Ronaldo is not a phenomenon likely to repeat itself. Two players that are categorically better than everyone else, and one categorically better than probably anyone who has ever played. I don’t think it’s that boring to give the Footballer of the Year award to them, it just seems logical to me. What doesn’t seem logical to me is giving it to people like Cannavaro cause he won the World Cup (tournament of 4 weeks), or Ronaldo when Messi is better than him.

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If it is to determine who was the best player of the season, I don’t know why trophies come into picture.

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