Tracksuit Dave - Get Platty on the coaching staff

There are in football certain truths that survive the course of time, Referees will carry a full 52 pack of yellow cards at Highbury, determined to use most of them. Alex Ferguson will piss me off and Arsenal will "buy" every spare player in Europe. The other constant is that David Platt will be offered every coaching and manager's job as they come round, until he finally bites the bullet and finds himself in sunny Sunderland or dull old Derby.

It seems blatently obvious to me that if the Arsenal heirarchy don't wake up they may lose one of the best potential long term assets currently on the books. David Platt appears to be one of those rare people born to be a football manager. His career seems less and less like that of a career footballer than an overlong training session in preperation for the real thing.

Let's consider it in more depth.. Platty famously began his career at the lower ends of the League with a stint at Crewe, after being turned away by Manchester United (in the days when they would have turned away George Best for being crap). At least no future fledgling can accuse him of not being able to rough it! He then began a magic roundabout of transfers that not only left him a rich financial legacy but a rich diversity of experience. He played for top English and Italian clubs and studied under some of the best coaches in Europe, our own Arsene Wenger being at the top of that list. I say "studied" on purpose, because you get the distinct feeling that Platt decided some time ago that a career in the game, after he hung up his boots, was definitely his cup of cappuchinno.

He came back to England in 1995 with the declared intention of finally winning some domestic honours and a long term goal of turning to management.

And yet, arguably, he's been treated with a measure of disdain as a player at Highbury. A vastly experienced player in his early thirties, a recent England captain and one of the top international scorers in English history, he's spent more time on the bench than the local magistrates. He's had both newly purchased players and youngsters chosen ahead of him and played to crowds of a few hundred in the reserves. Why is it, also, that the whole team seems to have captained Arsenal at some point in the past year, except the one person best qualified to do it?

His reaction to all this? Total professionalism, and an attitude than can not have failed to impressed those that have taken note. On more than one occasion I've turned away from events on the rest of the pitch (and let's face it, against Palace that wasn't difficult) and studied Platt marshalling and tutoring the youngsters around him and, literally, on occasions, lead from the front. Some may not appreciate it right now, but they surely will later.

Although I'm not, of course, privey to the finer details, he has, by reputation, a fine grasp of the tactical side of the game and judging by his handling of his personal finances his business acumen appears to be acute. He is comfortable with the media and is unlikely to be found on the wrong page of the News of the World or The Sun for personal indiscretions.

Everything about David Platt points to him having a fair crack at being an "Arsenal style" manager in time and if the club have any ambitions to start a self perpetuating "dynasty" I'd strongly suggest they do their utmost to hang on to Platt now and offer him a backroom role when his playing days are over. What better place to study team management and gain coaching experience than at a club like Arsenal, under a leader like Wenger? Platt, if he has the patience, couldn't really ask for more and Arsenal could barely hope for better raw material? That isn't to suggest that Platt hasn't more to contribute to the playing side, but that's another story.