“Before you interview me, let me interview you. Any news on Declan Rice?”
It became immediately clear as my conversation with Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer kicked off that he, like all of us Arsenal supporters, understands the yearning desire for the latest on who might be joining the club this summer. However, more on Rice in a bit.
In a mini-documentary put together to showcase Sir Keir’s love of both football and his childhood club Arsenal, which you can watch in full here, it demonstrates the escape that the sport provides for people in all manner of situations.
“It’s fantastic Tom, I think it came through on the video. I’ve been playing football every week since I was ten years old apart from exceptional weekends and/or injuries. So it’s always been that passion for me and whether it's watching or playing just being able to cut off from the world of politics.
“If you’re watching, you know what it’s like, I’m in the stands with my son, my friends it’s absolutely brilliant. Or playing, where certainly the games I play on the Sunday, nobody really gives a damn what you do for a living, they just want to know you’re a decent person playing football.”
Sir Keir is shown both attending Arsenal and playing with friends alongside his work meeting communities around the country. It can sometimes be difficult to disassociate our political leaders from the people that they are themselves, but sport and football in particular have become critical in bridging that divide for Sir Keir.
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“Yeah, I hope so, I do think it’s really grounding because it’s one of those activities that genuinely brings people together from all walks of life. It doesn’t matter what you do for a living, what you’re background is.
“When the whistle goes and you’re on a football pitch, then you are just an individual in a team playing. We always go for a drink afterwards, it’s a collection of people who do different things in their lives coming together out of the love of a sport.
“A very simple sport obviously which is one of the main attractions of football. 22 people, one ball, two goals and ninety minutes to get the ball in the net. That’s the long and the short of it and it’s fantastic.”
Sir Keir has a young daughter who he admits has also been gripped by the sport and in particular that of the women’s game. Arsenal are one of the most successful clubs in the sport and this season worked extremely hard to continue raising the profile of the game.
The Emirates succeeded in selling out the UEFA Women’s Champions League semi-final between the Gunners and Wolfsburg. There’s an argument that the Gunners are one of, if not, the example to the world in the promotion of the women’s game and Sir Keir agrees they’re up there with the best.
“Yes, in terms of promoting women’s football Arsenal are right up there. That semi-final was incredible to sell out, one to be using the main stadium but to sell it out and to make a big deal of it as well.
“I was at the last men’s game before that, everyone was talking about it, it’s coming over the tannoy that it’s happening, it was a really big thing. As I said in the documentary, to see my daughter, we were at Sheffield for the semi-final of the Lionesses in the Euros, and they won and were an incredible team together.
“After winning, the women players stayed on the pitch celebrating and my daughter was just fixated with this and it was really incredible. I only use that as an example, there will be many girls and young women who I think in the last year or two will have taken a much keener interest in football.
“The legacy has to be, the Lionesses and the Arsenal Women, the legacy has to be equal access for girls and young women to play football.”
As a season ticket holder, Sir Keir regularly attends the men’s game too and last season watched the Gunners come incredibly close to a first Premier League title in 19 years. Mikel Arteta has been at the crux of Arsenal’s rise back to the level of competing for titles and the Spaniard has ingrained new principles of respect, passion and togetherness into the group.
A manager must be a leader, and Arteta has led this group back into the Champions League and hopes to win silverware soon. As Sir Keir hopes to win the next general election, I was curious if Arteta’s characteristics of leadership are something he sees in him.
“Absolutely because what he’s created this season is a team. I know that sounds a bit of an odd thing to say but it’s not eleven individuals, he’s created a team that works well together and obviously, because I’m a season ticket holder, there’s the inevitable, we get together for a drink before the game, a whole bunch of us walk down together.
“Afterwards there’s always the question of who’s been the player of the game. This season it’s been really hard because actually the team has played so well and everyone has played well within their teams.
“You compare that with other clubs, Chelsea for example, where a lot of money has been spent but they haven't created a team. So there’s that.
“But there’s player management which has been incredible. [Granit] Xhaka, I was there the day in 2019 when Xhaka was subbed, took his shirt off and threw it on the ground and there was a very strong feeling that he wouldn’t play for Arsenal again.
“Arteta turned him around to a point where certainly this season he would have been amongst the first on the team sheet every week and where there’s a standing ovation at the last game of the season when it became clear he may be leaving the club. That’s an amazing piece of player management.
“The other example I would give is [Martin] Odegaard, who as soon as he arrived at Arsenal, initially on loan, I thought here is a technically gifted player. Once Arteta made him captain, that gave him authority on the pitch which took his game up a level.
“So I think there’s a lot there to learn about teamwork, about leadership in the way that Arteta has put that team together and has created a team that works well together.”
At the end of it all though, and at the core, Sir Keir is an Arsenal fan and as the introduction of our conversation suggested, he’s as desperate as any supporter to know the latest on potential incomings this summer. Asked if Declan Rice would be his dream signing of the summer, the Labour leader didn’t hesitate to go beyond just the West Ham skipper.
“Yeah, he’s the one I’d really like to see come in. I think he’s a fantastic player, I think he’d fit into Arsenal a treat.
“There’s [Moises] Caicedo as well from Brighton who I know we’re after. But Declan Rice is the one I’d like to see completed as soon as possible if that’s going to happen.”
Arsenal, as football.london understands, are interested in both players. Fingers are crossed that Sir Keir’s transfer dream comes true and next season the Gunners, reinforced with some world-class midfield talent, can take things another step forwards.
Watch the full mini-documentary, Sir Keir Starmer: What Football Means To Me on the Labour Party YouTube channel here.
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