Thierry Henry Fairy Tale Is Just a Distraction to Arsenal's Empire in Decline

Everybody loves a comeback. It's the grandest statement of sporting defiance there is—to stand before the ruthless gods of time and say your body is not for the breaking. In one act, you become equal parts Greek myth, Hollywood schmaltz and beer-soaked sports-bar legend.

Thierry Henry's return to Arsenal was more emotive than most. A matter of weeks before announcing his comeback, Henry was in tears outside Emirates Stadium as the club unveiled a bronze statue of him celebrating a goal—a feat witnessed 226 times between 1999 and 2007 by fans incapable of mentioning his name without the word "legend" hanging off it.

Henry was more than a great player for Arsene Wenger's Arsenal during those years. He was a revolutionary whose spirit has shaped the modern identity of the club. Henry's fearless expression on and off the pitch was the embodiment of Wenger's bold footballing philosophy.

You could argue he set the standard for the game they play today.

Where Tony Adams had screamed, scrapped and gone to war for his place in Arsenal lore, so Henry glided around Highbury with an almost serene grandeur. It was as if a different species entirely had landed in north London, and with Henry's arrival, the Gunners said goodbye to the past and embraced a more cultured future.

Arsenal's evolution, like natural selection, was compounded by success. Wenger had already won a Double when Henry arrived from Juventus in 1999, and they'd win another in 2002 on his lead. A further title followed in 2004 before the club picked up its most recent honor when it beat Manchester United in the 2005 FA Cup Final.

Little wonder fans greeted news of Henry's comeback with such unadulterated joy. Not only were they welcoming back the player most considered the best they'd seen, but they were also celebrating the return of a man whose very presence transports Arsenal fans to a more glorious place in their recent past.

Pretty intoxicating stuff to the neutral, let alone a diehard Gooner, six long years without a trophy.

That's the part about comebacks that sets them up for anticlimax. By their very nature they're unlikely, so how do you resist the urge to take the implausibility to its most unnatural conclusion?

It begins with "Henry can give Arsenal a boost." Then you get, "Henry can inspire Arsenal to win a trophy." Be honest, how many Arsenal fans have wondered if Henry might stay on and help them win the Champions League?

For a brief moment, a heady cloud of optimism blocked out everything that's made Arsenal fans so miserable these last few years.

Lack of ambition in the transfer market, a succession of their best players leaving the club in their prime (Nasri, Fabregas, Clichy, Vieira, even Henry himself), the vulnerability of a squad lacking in depth, defensive fallibility and the missing ingredient of an on-field leader, to name but a few.

And when Henry scored against Leeds, you'd be forgiven for thinking neither he nor Arsenal's success had ever gone away. With one in-to-out curler from the inside left channel, so Henry cured all of the Gunners' ills.

At least that's how it felt until Wenger's team was beaten at Swansea on Sunday, and Henry found himself answering an irate fan after the final whistle. "No matter what, you should support the team," Henry apparently told the man in question.

No sooner had Henry given Arsenal fans a window into their glorious past, than they found him immersed now in their faltering present.

Perhaps it was the reality check Arsenal fans needed—to see their regenerated hero cast alongside a team so clearly inferior to the ones he conducted during his reign. Perhaps it served to remind them that the loan signing of a 34-year-old from MLS, no matter how beloved, is not the solution to an empire in decline at The Emirates.

The arrival of Henry serves sentiment, and it serves Arsenal's fiscal sensibilities, but it won't change anything in the long run. If anything, it will curb the (limited) potential for Wenger's desperation in the transfer market and make it even more unlikely that a big-name player will arrive this winter.

That, in turn, makes Champions League football next season all the more difficult to achieve.

It's all very well planning for UEFA's financial fair-play rules, but if you're not in the Champions League when they come in, who's going to want to play for you?

And if you can't attract new players, how do you keep the talented ones you have—the likes of Robin van Persie and Jack Wilshere? Do you just accept they'll go the way of Cesc Fabregas?

As much as Henry is a talisman and remains a potential match-winner, the most Arsenal fans should expect from his two-month return is a collection of romantic cameos to add to his legend and the healthy return on sales of his replica shirts to be put into their transfer kitty.

Anything more is unfair on both themselves and the great man himself.

Henry is a great fairy tale alright, but he's not the answer to Arsenal's ills. Unless, that is, he can convince Wenger to get the credit card out.