Hacker - Return of the Geriatricos

It has come to the attention of Hacker that 2012 appears to be a lost year of the 20th century, what with Manchester United bringing back Scholes, Arsenal bringing back Henry and Liverpool bringing back racism. The club are quick to condemn the kind of scenes that saw a small section of the Anfield crowd verbally abuse an Oldham player at the beginning of the month, however few would argue that 2012 isn’t taking the shape of a forgotten era. The returns of Scholes, Henry and even Robbie Keane to pastures new at Aston Villa have been so well received, with such a lack of cynicism, are we then to conclude that their reappearance doesn’t suggest deficiencies within the Premier League itself?

Paul Scholes’ return is perhaps the most surprising, here - as his old colleague Roy Keane was perhaps a little quick to point out – is a player who decided he was unable to compete at the highest level some 8 months ago. A routine master class from Barcelona and another Champions League final defeat for his team had shown him that. Now United’s reserves are no pushovers but which performance while training with them convinced the ginger prince that the initial decision was a wrong one? Pundits fall over themselves to proclaim the Premier League as the fastest competition of them all, so it remains to be seen whether the diminutive midfielder can last 90 minutes let alone half a season. The move actually says more about Manchester United than it does about Paul Scholes, Sir Alex spent the first three months of the season talking up the talents of Paul Pogba and Ravel Morrison - two stars of United’s Youth Cup winning side – yet when facing a midfield crisis neither were deemed worthy of a place in the starting line up. The plight of Darron Gibson highlights United’s failings; Ferguson persisted with the shoot-regardless of your-sight midfielder for four seasons before telling him he could leave when Scholes decided to return. United are titleholders, Scholes’ re-emergence shows a shortage of true quality in the market.

Arsenal’s problems this season have been clear, without Van Persie’s goals, Wenger’s team would be in far greater danger. The acquisitions of the bewildering Andrei Arshavin and the Brylcreem expert Marouane Chamakh have merely highlighted the loss of one of the greatest footballers to grace the Premiership in his prime. With 68 minutes played in Arsenal’s Third Round FA Cup match against Leeds, that man Thierry Henry - yet to come onto the field - had already been chosen by fans online as the man of the match. The script was written. Replacing the desperately poor Chamakh, the now languid Frenchman took centre stage. Surely, Andy Lonergan in the Leeds goal had seen at least one of the highlights videos that had consumed the web since Henry announced his return. It appears he had not. Thierry glided into space, received an inch perfect pass, swivelled and side footed the ball into the opposite corner of the net. This was a vintage Henry goal; Lonergan it seems had decided he was powerless to change the script. Indeed when Aaron Ramsey missed a gilt edged chance at the end, you could hear an audible sigh of relief that the fairy-tale wouldn’t be tarnished. That an I-was-there moment was still possible.

The notion of a script, it seems, holds the key for the thinking behind these returns. Henry’s winner coupled with Scholes scoring on his first start back against Bolton has reawakened that sense of cherishing the players that appeal more to the heart than to the head. The Frenchman’s only back for two months, Scholes will probably retire again at the end of the season, but for now they offer a glimpse back to a forgotten era. A time when ‘breaking news’ wasn’t trivial and a 30-something wasn’t confined to the television studios. The return of these legends may highlight flaws but the drama they create will be worth far more in memories.