Guinness ‘Made of Black’ ambassador Henry toasts to his new role

What you need to know:

  • Victor Wanyama is an unsung hero. I have watched his brother Mariga and Oliech play. They are great...

Just like at the prime of his chequered playing career, still, Thierry Daniel Henry isn’t just your normal retired footballer. 

You only have to meet him to understand this better.

In his heyday, the 40-year-old, who was born and brought up in a tough neighbourhood in the French capital Paris, was without doubt a talented footballer, possessing amazing skills and pace to burn.

During his initial eight-year stint at top English club Arsenal which lapsed in 2007, he – alongside manager Arsene Wenger – revolutionised the striker’s role in football.

See, them days, strikers were generally expected to wait for crosses and through balls in the box, beat the keeper, and turn away in celebration.

Not Henry though.

On February 21, 2006, Henry, who was forced by his dad to attend training sessions in his early years, scored a memorable solo goal in the Spanish capital to help Arsenal beat Real Madrid, and eliminate Europe’s most successful club from the Uefa Champions League in the quarter-finals that season.

The run-up to this goal had him initially receive a pass from Cesc Fabregas at just about the half-way line of the pitch, and embark on a Diego Maradona-like mazy run towards goal, whilst weaving through some of the world’s top talents at the time as one would do when navigating through those training cones.

This is how the English-owned Independent paper described that goal on its match report:

“He (Henry) began by shrugging off Ronaldo, and by the time Thierry Henry cracked the winning goal past the goalkeeper Iker Casillas, three more Real Madrid players lay prone of the Santiago Bernabeu turf, reflecting on their failure to stop the Arsenal captain and one of the Champions’ League greatest solo goals.
“Dazzling would be one way to describe Henry’s goal last night but that would only begin to tell the story of an extraordinary Arsenal performance and a sweet vindication of their captain.”

Liverpool too, among other top English clubs, can testify to Henry’s talents even though the man last kicked a football competitively in 2014.

And three years after hanging his boots, the man who also turned out for Monaco, Juventus, Barcelona and New York Red bulls, is – unlike many retired footballers - still very much a fan favourite.

RESPECT TO THE GUINESS BRAND

At the Villa Rosa Kempinski hotel in Nairobi on Friday, for example, the room reserved for a function Henry was to grace was filled to the brim by journalists and excited onlookers hours before he made an appearance.

Similarly, the training grounds at KCB Sports club in Ruaraka, where the Frenchman — now assistant coach of the Belgium national team — was to grace a coaching clinic was thronged by dozens of football fans all who wished for a piece of him.

Football France and Arsenal striker Thierry Henry (left) poses for photos with Tabitha Wambui, a Kenya Premier League referee, at Ruaraka grounds on December 15, 2017. Tabitha has been named the Kenya's Made of Black Ambassador. PHOTO | MARTIN MUKANGU |

Thierry Henry (left), Belgium national team’s assistant coach, talks to Belgium’s forward Divock Origi during a national team training session, three days before their match against Spain, in Neerpede on August 29, 2016. Origi’s Kenyan father Mike Okoth played for Harambee Stars and several Belgian clubs. PHOTO | JOHN THYS | AFP

Add the excitement, anticipation and social media buzz from thousands of other fans from as far as Uganda and Ethiopia, and you begin to get the full picture.

Donning a pair of faded jeans, black t-shirt and jacket, perhaps with respect to the Guinness brand which arranged his two-day visit, Henry, who now enjoys a punditry deal with Sky Sports reportedly worth Sh3.5 billion a year, stands out as a likeable, easy going, relaxed, but critically, very knowledgeable and intelligent.

Thierry Henry during a Guinness media briefing at Nairobi’s Villa Rosa Kempinski Hotel on December 15, 2017.PHOTO | MARIN MUKANGU | NATION MEDIA GROUP

The last two attributes are perhaps what distinguishes this man from several other retired footballers who always seem to struggle to make ends meet after a successful playing career.

Besides, Henry seemingly has worked extra hard to maintain shape, save for a few wrinkles that emerge on either side of his face when he breaks into laughter.

“I failed before and got back to my feet. I will fail again,” Henry narrates in English blurred by a deep French accent, while responding to a question from a journalist.

This statement was perhaps as a reflection of that bitter divorce from Claire Merry back in 2008, a separation that cost him about Sh2.5 billion at the time.

Or it could have something to do with some tough moments during his career, including his famously struggles for France, when he would later admit how surprising that he never scored from a Zinedine Zidane pass – the legendary French star credited for helping Les Blues to the 1998 Fifa World Cup and Euro 2000.

'WANYAMA IS AN UNSUNG HERO'

Henry’s intelligence oozes from the way he reacts to situations around him, but crucially, how he responds to inquiries.

At the ‘Made of Black’ launch for instance, he would roughly need five minutes to respond to one question.

That response will revolve around several instances, including relevant examples, a joke here, mostly while facing his interviewer eye-ball to eye-ball.

“Victor Wanyama is an unsung hero. I have watched his brother (McDonald) Mariga and (Dennis) Oliech play. They are all great players. For Wanyama, unfortunately it takes his absence (at Tottenham) to know how good he is. “He is like N’Golo Kante, Claude Makelele or Gilberto Silva,” said the football icon when asked about the Harambee Stars captain who has missed the last six months of competitive action with injury.

Legendary french footballer Thierry Henry answers questions at a media briefing at Villa Rosa Kempinski, Nairobi on December 15, 2017. PHOTO | MARTIN MUKANGU |

Henry was a striker during his early years, played as a winger for Monaco and Juventus before Wenger switched him to his childhood position when he joined Arsenal in 1999.

He adapted to numerous changes in the team during his early days and would later play as a lone striker during the 2004/5 season.

Then there is that advice to the up and coming footballers. “You have to make yourself available,” he points out. “You have to train hard, and get into the best possible shape, so that you are ready and available when the opportunity knocks, when the coach selects you.”

While impacting tips to a young striker at Ruaraka, he says: “You need to have a personal relationship with the midfielder who is passing to you all the time. It is your responsibility to look for him, not his. He is the most important person in your football life. Look for him outside the pitch and buy him a meal, watch a movie with him, show him that you value his support. That chemistry will eventually be visible on the pitch.” That’s Thierry Henry, the man who was at the centre of Arsenal’s record unbeaten season in 2004. 

Former France and Arsenal striker Thierry Henry meets his fans at the KCB Ruaraka grounds during his Guinness made of black promotional tour of Kenya on December 15, 2017.PHOTO | MARIN MUKANGU | NATION MEDIA GROUP

The Uefa Champions League, Fifa World Cup and European Championship winner. In total, he boasts 284 club goals in 581 appearances for Monaco, Juventus, Arsenal, Barcelona and New York Red Bulls, plus a further 51 goals in 123 international appearances.

It’s not by chance he’s among the best of his generation.