Sports Letter: George Graham is yesterday's man

George Graham is

yesterday's man

Sir: So at last the George Graham affair is over. The theme of many articles was his success at Arsenal and how Leeds were now a team capable of challenging for honours.

As an Arsenal supporter myself, I question this. Graham won two championships at Arsenal, but we were continually taunted, particularly by Spurs supporters, about our style of football. Vinnie Jones, while at Sheffield United, called it "the Rolls-Royce of our [Sheffield United] system'' - a glorified long-ball game.

Nothing Graham has done at Leeds United suggests his brand of football has changed. What now of stylish Spurs? Which Arsenal team do their fans prefer?

At a time when we question skill in the game, we applaud the work of Graham. Gone are the days when a long-ball functional team will win the Premiership - Blackburn were possibly the last to do so.

Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and Arsene Wenger at Arsenal have changed this and taken domestic football to another plane after the doldrums of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Maybe Arsenal and Spurs should change names - in two years' time they won't be recognisable from the teams of yesteryear.

GARY JACOB

St Catherine's College,

Oxford