Hoddle, art and the need for a new expressionist movement
Arsene Wenger was on stage, Glenn Hoddle was in the audience, and the sounds of the Beatles were all around. Wenger was at Abbey Road Studios where 190 of the Fab Four’s 210+ songs were recorded. Wenger was reflecting on the need for two-footed creators like Hoddle, his former player at Monaco, at last night’s fund-raiser for David Dein’s Twinning Project charity. Hoddle, sitting at a table including other former England managers in Gareth Southgate and Roy Hodgson, took a mic and recalled his first game for Wenger. The cavernous Studio One was an elegant, creative setting for such a discussion.
Hoddle will be 70 later next year. Time flies. Looking back on his first acquaintance with Wenger, Hoddle set the scene by explaining he came to Monaco from England where, certainly outside of Tottenham Hotspur, his playmaking style was never fully appreciated. “I was playing against the tide in England,” he said. The game was direct, the ball moved on sharply because of some of the challenges thudding in, and fans wanted the ball in the goalmouth quickly. Hoddle’s game was more refined. As was Wenger’s approach to the game.
“We were playing Red Star Belgrade in pre-season, and Arsene said to me, ‘you will play the No 10’. Music to my ears!” Hoddle duly caressed the ball around. At half-time, Wenger had words of praise but also one observation delivered almost as an admonishment. “Glenn, you are coming back too far too deep.” Even more music to Hoddle’s ears. Wenger had Claude Puel in midfield to do the dirty work in deep midfield, the screening and ball-winning. Hoddle simply got on the ball, striking up a productive understanding with Mark Hateley as Monaco won Ligue 1.
It must have been poignant hearing and seeing Hoddle and Wenger for the Spurs and Arsenal fans in the room last night, and for fans generally. Plenty of talent is being produced in this country, as a glance at the potential No 10s for England this summer confirms: Jude Bellingham, Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer. And just consider those creative players who might not even get in Thomas Tuchel’s 26-man squad for the World Cup: Phil Foden and Morgan Gibbs-White while James Maddison is only just returning from long injury and Jack Grealish is out. None is in Hoddle’s class, of course.