Nicky Barmby can teach Arsenal boo boys lesson in loyalty

17 March 2009 22:50
For Barmby is, you see, a journeyman in the positive sense: a player reunited with his hometown club two decades after spending his teenage years sharpening his teeth for teams in Hull's Willerby Road area. [LNB]Nor he is any Johnny-come-lately to Hull's project, joining them five years ago when they were in League One and still plotting their remarkable ascendancy to the Premier League and, almost but not quite, the FA Cup semi-finals. [LNB] Related ArticlesThe Anfield juggernaut rolls[LNB]Uefa should allow Liverpool to mourn[LNB]North East clubs in danger of heading south[LNB]Spit when you're winning[LNB]Arsenal reach FA Cup semi-finals on night of shame at Emirates[LNB]Arsenal hand Nicklas Bendtner chance to prove himself against Hull in FA Cup[LNB]His goal on Tuesday night was hardly one for posterity, looping luckily beyond Lukasz Fabianski off the outstretched leg of Johan Djourou, but Barmby will not care one iota about that. It was enough for him to be present at the event, his 35 years meaning he can seldom be sure of starting a game, and a storyline of fantasy that he should steer Hull to within 16 minutes of potentially their most seismic victory, only for Robin van Persie and William Gallas's late goals to spoil the poetry of the moment. [LNB]He is also steeped in his FA Cup history, losing twice in semi-finals with Tottenham and coming precariously close to gracing the same stage with his precious Hull. Not bad for a midfielder well advanced in the autumn of his career, and a shame he had to be denied the chance. [LNB]Barmby's itinerant route through the nation's top clubs, starting at Tottenham before spells of varying success at Middlesbrough, Everton, Liverpool and Leeds, ended in 2004 when he decided he wanted his young family to be settled in the place of his birth. He has been in the vanguard of defending Hull against its numerous detractors, notably when the Channel 4 programme Location, Location, Location voted the city the second worst place to live in the country. [LNB]Among the most extraordinary facets of Hull's success has, indeed, been the club's location, out on a limb from the Premier League's traditional powerbases. But they have not exactly been afraid of upsetting the metropolitan elite, beating four London clubs, including Arsenal at the Emirates, at the start of the season before again stretching the hosts to the limits of their patience last night. [LNB]Nor has Barmby proved averse to provoking Arsenal; had his goal made the difference before Van Persie and Gallas's riposte he would, as a former Tottenham stalwart, have been officially the most hated man in north London. [LNB]Until recently, Gallas drew similar hatred from among his own fans, but where Barmby was cruelly booed off here, the Frenchman found his name cheered to the rafters. Barmby could perhaps teach a few of those mercurial fans a thing or two about loyalty. [LNB] 

Source: Telegraph