On May 14th it was confirmed that Katie McCabe’s eleven years at Arsenal would come to an end. The timing was auspicious, coming the day after Arsenal’s last home game, and the last chance the majority of fans would have to honour her. Rumours abounded that the club had offered a new contract to the player but had failed to reach an agreement. A rousing reception was given on social media to a player who had become a stalwart for the side, one of the last remaining players of the 2019 WSL winning team, and one whose adaptability had proven useful - as well as making the left back slot her own, she had played further up the pitch as a winger, and slotted in comfortably at centre back in the heated Champions League quarter finals against Chelsea.
I took to McCabe immediately after starting to follow Arsenal in the summer of 2018. I’d always been a fan of a player with a dubious attitude to the laws of the game regarding the health and wellbeing of the opposition. I grew up watching Gillingham in the era of Andy Hessenthaler, a midfield general who made up in violence what he lacked in height; I only started supporting Arsenal after they signed Tabea Kemme, one of the few players to be sent off for taking a throw-in (her innocent “what?” upon receiving the red card is unparalleled in its denialism), so McCabe’s swashbuckling tackling was always going to go down well in my book!
McCabe was almost ever-present during that title winning season, playing the most minutes out of everyone, and popping up with crucial goals as well - breaking Birmingham’s resolve late on the last day of March to secure Arsenal’s Champions League qualification, and the second in the title-winning 4-0 thrashing of Brighton to claim the league.
At international level, she became her country’s captain at the age of 21 (the youngest in Ireland’s history) and negotiated equal pay for the men’s and women’s national teams shortly after receiving her 50th cap in 2021. Two years later she scored her country’s first goal at a Women’s World Cup and became the first Irishwoman nominated for the Ballon D’Or.
McCabe’s last campaign in an Arsenal shirt will be remembered, chiefly, for the Champions League quarter final games against Chelsea. Due to injuries and bookings she played the second half of both matches in an unfamiliar (at club level) centre back position, playing her part in limiting Chelsea to a (frankly, superb) long range dink by James in the first leg, and a breakaway goal late on in the second.
What she looked set to be remembered for was tugging back Alyssa Thompson immediately after the restart. On first glance it looked to be a simple shirt pull, part and parcel of the game at any level across all genders; replays showed she’d grabbed a fistful of Thompson’s hair, an act that incensed Chelsea players, fans and coaching staff (in the absence of VAR, Chelsea’s manager Sonia Bompaster took to showing replays during the post-match press conference, to explain the vociferous complaints that earned her two yellow cards).
This was the latest in a series of provocative incidents that she'd had in games with Chelsea, going back years. A lot of players seem to revel in playing the heel, antagonising and winding up opposition fans, and McCabe is one of the best. Her cheeky grin in response to a chorus of boos became her signature, signifying the fact that she knew what she was doing and she was doing it well.
It was a surprise, then, when on the 1st of June Chelsea announced that they had signed McCabe to a three-year contract. That length would suggest that it had played some factor in the transfer - rumours abounded that Arsenal had offered her a shorter contract which would also see her playing second fiddle to the Spanish International speculated to be joining the club.
Even so, the outcry on social media was quite something to behold. Posts made in the wake of the Champions League quarter final were frantically being deleted on both sides - by Chelsea fans, who now would see the player some had wanted a lifetime ban for, playing in their sponsorless home shirts, and by Arsenal fans who had felt betrayed by the hero that they valiantly defended against (fairly warranted) criticism - turning heel on them and joining what they perceive to be the enemy.
Despite the minor backlash, the majority of fans respect McCabe for all that she’s done for the club, and will get a rousing reception when she returns to the Emirates - right up until she unceremoniously scythes down a red shirted player, and flashes that familiar grin!
