Sam Wallace is the first journalist I’ve come across who manages to deal with this whole Arsenal ‘hippy crack’ story with some notion of proportion.

Talking sense

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Sam Wallace highlights how the ‘hippy crack’ party that was attended by a few Arsenal stars was nothing in comparison to what the team used to get up to under Tony Adams & co.

“Dipping into Tony Adams’ seminal autobiography Addicted, you can start to feel a little woozy just keeping up with the sheer volume of booze,” writes Wallace.

“After that championship-clinching win at Anfield in 1989 he and Steve Bould punched out the polystyrene ceiling in the away dressing room, drank or sprayed all the champagne Liverpool had kept chilled for themselves and headed back to the magnificently low-rent nightclub “Winners” in Southgate, north London. “I was an alcoholic in development,” wrote Adams. Fans threw cans of beer up to him on the victory parade bus.

“By comparison the Arsenal laughing gas party in August in Mayfair was tame. It was certainly more expensive in their Hanover Square VIP area than “Winners” – now sadly gone, it seems – but a lot less likely to develop any alcoholics. Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s greatest indulgence appears to have been a lollipop.

“Having seen so many fractured, uninterested Arsenal sides over the years, my first reaction was that it was good to see a side out bonding together. They probably drank less combined than some of the thirstiest members of that great 1980s team would manage individually.”

It’s a point I made on Saturday.

Here are a few others as we break down what is mostly just another hatchet job from the S*n. As Kevin Campbell put it:

https://twitter.com/1kevincampbell/status/1070961217777340416

Arsenal stars enjoyed hippy crack! It’s enough to start a scandal – if you try hard enough.

That’s what the S*n, who are the experts at this sort of thing, wants but in case you find yourself getting worked up over this nothing story, allow me to take a few minutes to highlight a few points that you might have missed….

This party took place BEFORE the season started

I don’t know if the S*n only just found out about the story or they have been holding it since the summer (more likely the latter knowing the S*n, they did the same when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang when he first arrived, bringing up a dis-proved story that once again went nowhere) but the fact is this all took place more than THREE months ago and we’ve been doing alright since then.

A number of papers on Saturday were discussing how the story will be a ‘distraction’ ahead of the game against Huddersfield but that’s disingenuous.

The COVERAGE of the story might be a distraction but the club have already dealt with the matter and the players involved have been among the standout stars of Arsenal’s season so far.

Arsenal ‘warning players of their responsibilities’ took place ages ago.

‘Hippie crack’ is not illegal and it’s not crack

Sticking the word ‘crack’ on the end of the street name for nitrous oxide is a simple way of making something not very exciting seem like it could be about to cause an epidemic.

In fact, it’s insulting to compare the two when you consider the devastation actual crack unleashes upon individuals and societies.

Nitrous oxide is nothing more than laughing gas that you get at the dentist, designed to relax and produce the giggles.

It is no more illegal than alcohol and, many would argue, significantly less damaging to both the person taking it and society as a whole.

What is the public interest here?

Stories that make the papers should have a public interest angle, so what is it here?

Arsenal are currently on the longest unbeaten run in Europe so it can’t be that the players’ partying is affecting them on the pitch.

As already mentioned, they haven’t done anything illegal – either in the eyes of UK law or FIFA rules, so there is no reason to publish this story other than to try and unsettle Arsenal.

Martin Keown is clutching his pearls in Saturday’s Daily Mail, calling this behaviour ‘unacceptable.’ “It is incredibly disappointing to see Arsenal players inhaling ‘hippy crack’,” Keown writes.

“Above all else, Premier League players are role models and this type of behaviour is simply unacceptable.”

But drinking 15 pints on a night out is no biggie.