RIP SUPER KEV
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Layth’s TAKE
Hello, and welcome to issue 307 of the Gooner Fanzine, our first edition of what will hopefully be a momentous 2024-25 season for The Arsenal.
If you’ve been reading our weekly Gooner newsletters this summer (sign up by adding your name to the box at the bottom of any story on our website onlinegooner.com) you’ll know at the time of writing we’re still short of numbers to meet our required total.
However, while we always need more subscribers to stop us losing money (why not take out a sub for a mate, or family member as every penny counts) I’m determined the Gooner Fanzine will survive, either through funding the shortfall out of my own pocket, and/or through the incredible support from our loyal band of readers and subscribers, who’ve backed us on so many levels, in so many ways (you know who you are – thank you so much).
RIP Kevin Campbell
How many of us were absolutely devastated to learn of the passing of Kevin Campbell. Which is why we’ve decided to honour the big man with this tribute issue. I even asked Mikel Arteta at London Colney about how he felt about KC’s loss, for the newspaper I write for, and this is what he told me: “[I felt] Really sad. It was very difficult news and you can sense the love and respect and admiration that was here for him.
“What we experienced on the day of the Wolves game was really emotional, very unique as well, very moving for everybody and especially for his family. Hopefully, they felt the club and everybody who knew him, loved and respected him in the manner they do as well.”
Team Gooner
It’s been all hands to the pump this summer to get the Gooner in good shape, on and off the pitch as it were, and I am so proud of each and every member of our team of writers, creatives and unsung heroes behind the scenes – not least our production genius Serge Braga-Mullin, for playing their part in helping assemble what I think to be the best issue under my leadership. I hope you enjoy it too.
I have to add a massive thank you to all round good guys Jack Wilshere, and to Andy Woodman, for their time. I also interviewed Ian Allinson, but we’ll use his brilliant interview in our October issue as I didn’t want to cut any of it this time around.
Join AISA and AST
As editor of the Gooner, I am proud to be a fully paid-up member of AISA, and AST, as both bodies do such outstanding work, including the brilliant Richard Smith and others from AISA helping out at the Arsenal Matchday Foodbank.
I humbly suggest if you care about the provenance of our club, and so much more, then why not consider joining too. Details inside.
Incidentally, speaking of Richard from AISA, he’s got a new book out, "I'm Still Standing" which we heartily recommend. As we do also for David Fox’s superb Arsenal tome called Supporting Arsenal 101 (Row 25). See our back page for more.
Layth’s Take Substack
Some of you may have noticed I now also write a daily newsletter on all things Arsenal, football, sport, travel, dogs, music and life. Why not add your email to receive my daily Layth’s Take if any of the above chimes with you.
And finally…
I have to say a massive thank you to my wonderful partner Faye, who not only puts up with my Arsenal addiction, but who now also helps out with the admin at times, when it all gets too much for me, when all I really want to do is write, and edit and share the Gooner gospel. Thank you, love you, gorgeous.
CHARLES WATTS Look at the season ahead and more 6
CHARLIE ASHMORE Charlie remembers Kevin Campbell 10
MICKEY CANNON Tribute to Kevin Campbell 16
JACK WILSHERE Exclusive interview with JW10 28
NICK CALLOW Playing pool with Trossard in LA 38
HIGHBURY SPY Our star columnist is back for 2024-2025 42
RICHARD SMITH The double-barreled name problem 50
SUPER SUB Frank Stubbs gives us his answers 60
Gooner Social
REST IN PEACE KEVIN CAMPBELL
OUR SEASON, OUR DECADE
This season is the one. No excuses. No more talk of ‘project phases.’ Mikel Arteta has the fire. The boys have the experience. This team is ready to take it all.
This is going to be the year Arsenal nail a major trophy. One of the greatest turnaround projects in Premier League history is about to reach… its beginning. Yes, I said beginning. Arsenal have built out their squad to coincide with the great decline happening elsewhere - and they've built it to last.
In football, they call this creating a sustainable model. This essentially means that when you reach the top, you’re built to stay there for years to come. Spurs were building towards a sustainable model under Mauricio Pochettino, but after they missed out on Champions League football, Daniel Levy tried to shortcut success and landed them in a death spiral of hiring managers that looked like winners on paper.
United have been in denial about the need for a sustainable model, hence Casemiro amongst other disaster short term signings. There are no shortcuts in the Premier League. The two most dominant teams of the last five years have a clear vision, playing style, and strategy. You just cannot beat those sporting fundamentals with such shortterm thinking.
Arsenal have taken the same approach. We exited the rot, implemented a playing style that required a lot of coaching, and player specificity. We signed talent that was between 21-23, mostly from the Premier League, and integrated them knowing we’d have somepainful years because the best players don’t hit their peak until, at the earliest, 26 years old (note Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah signed for Liverpool at that age).
The average age of Arsenal’s starting 11 against Bournemouth was 26.1years old. This team is no longer the babies of the Premier League. Boys are now men. These men are about to go from good to great. Arsenal are ready to tackle the Premier League and dominate it for the next five years because we grew our team into its peak years.
Let’s look at what’s going on elsewhere. Manchester City are likely to be relegated if they are found guilty. You’ve read the leaked e-mails, you know that 35 of the charges are related to failure to comply with the Premier League (obstruction). The Premier League cannot cut a deal if they are guilty, it will render them pointless and lead to future chaos.
Liverpool have new leadership, three of their best players with a year left on their contracts, and they’ve signed no one. Arne Slot is not Jurgen Klopp; when things turn, you’ll see big problems. Chelsea have 46 first teamers and a rookie manager Leicester fans hated. United still have Erik ten Hag at the helm along with his toxic squad.
Aston Villa are about to find out how hard Champions League football hits league form. Unai Emery’s history of managing the two competitions together isn’t great (league form always dips).
Spurs' form in the second half of theseason was dreadful because Angeball has been sussed. Newcastle have a new sporting director who already has Eddie Howe crying in the media.
Arsenal have gone from being the #1 banter club in the league to the most stable. This is our year. We are going to end our major trophy drought. Buckle up and enjoy the ride—you deserve it.
LE GROVE @LeGrove
IT’S STILL THIERRY HENRY’S WORLD
It takes a special kind of individual to generate a heart-aching nostalgia for an era that you do not even remember. It takes a special player to instil a yearning for a period of football history that transpired before you were even born.
But in the never-ending list of adjectives you can attribute to arguably the greatest player to ever don an Arsenal shirt, ‘special’ is one of the most apt to describe Le Roi. Thierry Henry.
This month marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Frenchman’s signing for Arsenal. To mark the occasion, the club shared a series of Henry’s best moments for the North London team. A carousel of sentimentality-inducing dopamine rushes. Schooling Galacticos at the Bernabeu, singlehandedly beating Liverpool, and adorning the Premier League trophy on his head at the finale of the Invincibles season.
Life is infinite and so is the stockpile of iconic Thierry Henry stills.
Henry’s legacy as an all-time Premier League great is unquestionable. In a conversation about the best player to ever set foot on a British footballing field, it’s simply and obviously a cardinal sin to not mention his name.
He did things on the football pitch that have never, ever, ever come close to being recreated. His gobsmacking flick-turn-volley against Manchester United, an audacious 10-yard backheeled finish against Charlton, and the dummy after faint after shimmy before slotting one past a helpless Jerzy Dudek. Henry ignited the excitement of thousands of school-aged kids, who consequently dedicated hours to practicing sidefoot finishes in the back garden.
But those kids grew up and seasons changed. Henry moved onto sunnier pastures, going on to claim the coveted Champions League trophy at Barcelona. In his absence, Arsenal continued to falter, and cynicism creeped into the heart of even the most ardent fans. But The King had more Jokers in his pack.
His legendary, tears-in-your-eyes goal against Leeds on his return to the Emirates catapulted all of us back to the cobwebbed corners of our memory. Not since Primary School had the urge to grab a worn-out football and tear around the back garden been so irresistibly strong.
Henry Waddon @HenryWaddon
Signed in the twilight of a decade that birthed the footballer/mega-celebrity hybrid, Thierry Henry’s influence and significance has always far transcended the game we love.
In recent years, Arsenal players like PierreEmerick Aubameyang and Bukayo Saka have continued to emulate his most famous celebrations; an aura-dripping, fist-clenching kneeslide in the NLD, or a naughty smile while lazily leaning on the corner-flag, a tribute to Henry’s nineties exploits in a French jersey. Football is the Culture. And Thierry Henry is the Football.
Twenty-five years on, his relevance remains relentless. During the season, the timeline is inundated with bi-weekly clips of Le Roi utilising his sophisticated, charismatic aura to take the mickey out of Micah Richards and Jamie Carragher (much like he used to do on the football pitch).
More to the point, he continues to have a direct managerial influence on the beautiful game; at time of writing, Henry has just guided a young and inexperienced French men’s team to silver medal in the Olympic final. And much like his footballing nous, Henry’s instinct for iconography is not greying or fraying with age.
In the dying embers of the semi-final, Henry posed with his arms aloft to the heavens as ‘pure limbs’ broke out in the French stands after a late Mateta winner.
It isn’t long before there are videos on my feed of Henry dancing, with characteristic nonchalant joy, in the French dressing room post-match. A hero, coach, and peer alike to this future cohort of French football stars.
These images reassure me, if any reassurance was really necessary, that Thierry Henry’s legacy is eternal.
My children will know Thierry Henry, as will my children’s children, and every generation of footballing fan that comes after them. Just as I stare at photos a quarter-of-a-century old.
The world is a better place for Thierry Henry. It’s his world after all. Viva la Va Va Voom.
ONE THING IS MISSING: SUCCESS
So, here we go again.
This time of year always brings with it those familiar feeling doesn’t it? Hope, excitement, expectation and maybe just that little bit of nausea about what’s to come.
I have to admit though, I can’t wait to get stuck into this season. I really think it’s going to be a special one.
The last two have been great. There has been so much to like about them.
We’ve got players we actually really connect with, the atmosphere at the Emirates has been superb and the bond that has been built between the fans and the team has been like something we’ve not experienced since the Wenger glory days at Highbury.
But of course there has been one thing missing: Success.
Now of course you can measure success differently and there is no doubt that the past two seasons have been successful from a progress point of view.
Charles Watts @charles_watts
But real success when it comes to Arsenal is trophies. That just can’t be argued. That’s what this club has always been about and that hasn’t really changed.
This team that Mikel Arteta and Edu have built deserves success.
They would have been worthy champions in each of the past two seasons had the well oiled machine that is Manchester City not pipped them to the post.
But the fact is City and their 115 charges did exactly that. So this team that we’ve seen built so wonderfully over the last few years has yet to get their hands on any silverware of note.
But that changes this season. I’m convinced of it. I don’t know what Arsenal will win, but I really do think we will be celebrating something when May comes around.
We’ll need a bit of luck, especially with injuries, but you can just sense that these players are ready to deliver something and I think they will use the pain of just missing out last season to drive them on.
Ijustwanted to quickly touch on the devastating loss of Kevin Campbell earlier in the summer.
I idolised ‘Super Kev’ when I was growing up. Standing in the Juniors Gunners section at Highbury as a kid he gave me so many great happy memories.
The winner against PSG in the Cup Winners Cup semi-final, that volley against Palace, the turn and finish that sparked the remarkable 7-1 against Sheffield Wednesday. There are plenty more that I could mention.
He scored in front of the North Bank in the first North London derby I ever went to. Of course his great mate Ian Wright scored the other goal that day.
I loved those two together. The friendship, the celebrations, the smiles. Two players who absolutely loved playing for Arsenal. As a kid growing up dreaming of doing exactly that, it was impossible not to look up to them.
Getting to know Kevin a bit in recent years was an absolute joy. He just loved Arsenal
and all the conversations we had in the press room at the Emirates or in the pubs around the ground were proof of that.
He was so passionate about the club and he was so proud to have been able to play for it.
And he was so willing to give his time to anyone who wanted it.
In the pub before or after the games he would be swamped by fans and he would speak to them all, sharing his stories from his time as a player.
That’s just the guy he was. A top, top man who will be greatly missed by all.
He was so passionate about the club and he was so proud to have been able to play for it
SUCCESS TO SILVERWARE
Our columnist is back for 2024-25 and hopes for silverware this season
As a new season rolls around once again, so does discussion of how Arsenal can make progress, in spite of an incredibly impressive 2023-24 campaign.
After picking up our second-highest Premier League points total and achieving our biggest win percentage of any Gunners season on record – it feels almost absurd to sit down and try and scrutinise where things went wrong and how we can do better this time around.
Back when Mikel Arteta first joined the club, he spoke about having a five-year plan, but didn’t go into much detail about what he hoped to achieve in each year.
Fans and pundits alike have speculated that each phase would involve something along the lines of implementing his style of football, getting into the Champions League places, competing and staying in that competition and then eventually winning Europe’s premier trophy, along with the Premier League too.
Annabel Rackham @annabellimor
The natural next step does feel like earning some silverware.
Of course the top prizes are the aim for the season ahead, especially as scrutiny grows around whether Arteta has delivered value for money after spending more than £700m since his 2019 arrival. Winning something this season feels pertinent, almost necessary, even if it is a domestic cup as the squad should hopefully now be in a state to fight on all four fronts.
Last season was pretty flawless, with little cause for concern. A problem for the manager and his coaching staff was the five games Arsenal failed to score in – with many calling for a new addition who could be more prolific in goal. Whether we can get over this issue over the course of the season remains to be seen, but there are other places we can approve too.
It’s important not to forget the soft factors too - these are less tangible ideas, narratives that you can’t really quantify in any way but believe can make a small difference in the way the club is perceived.
The main one I think we should be focusing on this season is reputation. There are many ways to look at it – for example, as someone who lives in London I’ve noticed since we became a top side again that people are proud to wear our shirt.
It’s something that isn’t at all quantifiable or scientific – I can’t say I’ve counted the number of shirts I’ve seen on a daily basis – but it’s definitely a feeling I get, that people want others to know they’re an Arsenal fan.
We’ve gone through a difficult few years, where conversations with rival fans have often been uncomfortable and now we are back to once again being proud of what the team is not only aiming for but already achieving.
This has helped create that siege mentality we’ve all come to relish at the Emirates, a
ground that was once mocked for being more like a library than a football pitch.
It feels like a full circle moment when players from other clubs, such as Anthony Gordon, describe it as the toughest ground to play at in the Premier League.
This shows that reputation on the pitch is also something we’ve been consistently building for the last couple of seasons too. There’s a belief that games are won in the tunnel before kick-off, with this idea first becoming a real point of discussion in the Wenger and Ferguson era. Face offs between Arsenal and Manchester United players could often boil over and whilst rivalries don’t feel as fierce now, there’s certainly still merit in looking the part and intimidating other teams.
The team with the most formidable reputation in the Premier League is of course Manchester City. After dominating the top division for more than ten years, it comes as no surprise when teams facing them appear to wave a white flag before a football has even been kicked.
There were many examples last season of teams choosing to rest players against City or not risk big stars coming back from injury, showing they had almost given up. Players would then remarkably return to starting XI’s for the next more ‘winnable’ game.
I don’t think last season, despite how we performed, that this luxury was ever afforded to us by those same teams.
Coming off the back of another impressive showing in the 22-23 league season, it was remarkable at times how opposition teams set up against us.
We certainly settled some scores – wins away at West Ham, Manchester United and Crystal Palace come to mind – but many games felt like a real battle.
We nearly always showed enough to break down a low block or neutralise a blistering counter-attack, but many teams treated us like we were on their level.
Only time will tell whether we’ve done enough in the last couple of seasons to get the reputation we all feel we deserve.
Of course the top prizes are the aim for the season ahead, especially as scrutiny grows around whether Arteta has delivered value for money after spending more than £700m since his 2019 arrival
GOODBYE TO AN ARSENAL HERO
My missus was driving back from a long weekend in Folkestone earlier this year and I was in the passenger seat browsing anything to do with Arsenal on my phone as you do in such situations, when I came across a feature with the headline ‘Arsenal and Everton legend Kevin Campbell seriously ill in hospital’.
‘Family at bedside’, ‘Campbell unlikely to pull through’ said the article.
Blimey, I thought, this is serious. You could’ve knocked me down with a feather.
He’s only 54, I recall thinking. I watched virtually every one of his 224 games for the mighty Gunners.
As we all know, events took a turn for the worse and our amazing bundle of joy from the early nineties passed away only a few weeks later.
It’s terrible when Arsenal loses one of its favourite sons.
I never saw Walley Barnes play or Ted Drake (although I did meet the great man) but I remember being incredibly sad upon hearing of their passing.
George Armstrong, I was mortified. Done Howe, surely not?
Terry Neil (who I also met and actually knew), was he really 80?
Highbury Spy @goonerfanzine
And so it goes on, that whenever a former Arsenal man dies, it really affects us all. We are family, and none more so than Super Kevin Campbell.
Along with the absolutely magnificent Geordie Armstrong who passed away far too young, Kevin was a hero and should’ve had at least another twenty years on this earth to entertain us and remind us what a lovely person he was.
My personal memories of watching Kevin are the same as yours.
He is synonymous with the famous ‘squashed wasp’ away kit that is still so popular today and in 1993-94 scored an amazing 19 goals for Arsenal and was a major part of the team that won the European Cup Winners Cup that season against all the odds.
I remember that famous game against Sheffield Wednesday in season 1991-92 when we won 7-1, scoring six goals in the final twenty minutes, two of them scored deliciously by Su-per, Su-per Kev, Su-per, Super Kev, Su-per Kevin Campbell, which was and still is our brilliant song for the great man.
I am ashamed to say the Spy missed the entire first half of that game after spending an inordinately long amount of time in the Highbury Barn with my good friends Tony Madden and Lars., the three of us deciding to have a few more pints and forego the first half on the basis we had been rubbish in the
Losing an Arsenal man hits like it’s family says a shocked Highbury Spy in his tribute to the late Kevin Cambpell
weeks prior to the match. It was 1-1 at half time, so our judgement was good and we didn’t miss much.
But we were so glad we didn’t stay in the pub for the second half as well.
That game remains my abiding Kevin Campbell memory. I could write so much more but let’s just say Kevin’s hilarious Brian Clough stories on YouTube are a must listen or watch.
Unlike a majority of former footballers who don’t have the charisma, personality or charm to appear in the media when their playing days are over, Kevin excelled.
His smiling, ebullient personality was often seen on Sky Sports and various podcasts and he was a popular and regular figure online to the day he was taken ill.
He was a radio pundit and all-round lovely guy, and his personality and effervescence leaped from the radio to wherever you happened to be listening.
When he died, he had more tributes than some England World Cup Winners got. And he deserved it.
The man lived life to the full and enjoyed every short minute of it.
RIP Super Kev, always in our thoughts.
FAREWELL KEVIN CAMPBELL: ONE OF LIFE’S GOOD GUYS
Charlie Ashmore @GoonerFanzine
a bull on it – all power and strength and no little skill and finishing ability.
Iknow I was not alone in feeling desperately sad when I heard the news of Kevin Campbell's passing.
It was not a surprise to me that the tributes revealed fully the depth of the affection in which he was held by all the clubs he played for and the supporters of those clubs.
But he was always "ours" – one of our own – a fan who lived the dream and played for his club.
One of the joys of watching him play in the red and white was the knowledge that there was nothing on earth he would rather be doing.
And let's be completely clear – he truly deserved to be doing it.
He was a proper player. As gentle and unassuming as he was off the pitch, he was
I think I saw every goal he scored for our first team and from first goal to last, he appeared to relish every single one in the way that you or I would have done if God had given us the talent and the fortitude to make a career in professional football and play for our beloved club.
It was he who scored the massive goal at home to PSG in the second leg in the Cup Winners Cup Semi in 1994, sending us to Copenhagen and our ultimate triumph, helping by doing so to cement the '1-0 to the Arsenal song' that became forever embedded in our psyche that season having been born in Paris in the first leg.
It was he who gloriously put together a run of 8 goals in ten games between February 23, and April 17, 1991 as he spearheaded our charge for the title.
There were times when it looked like his time with us was up, notably when Orient
wanted to keep him permanently after a good loan spell with them in 1989 and of course in 1991 when Ian Wright joined us and many thought that would be it for Campbell.
But he stuck at it and was rewarded with winners medals in all three domestic trophies and the Cup Winners Cup before the chaos of the George Graham end days and the signings of Chris Kiwomya and John Hartson saw him head to pastures new at Forest.
Every so often football throws up a character who is universally liked and admired by all.
Nobody ever had a bad word to say about him as a player and that continued after his playing days were over.
There have been stories aplenty about how polite and unassuming he was, how he always had time for anybody who wanted his advice or even just a chat. He was undoubtedly one of the good guys.
The Ancient Greeks had a saying – "Whom the gods love, dies young", and it seems apposite in the case of Kevin Campbell.
There's a football team up there playing in red and white and Big Kev is going to relish once again being on the end of one of Rocky's passes.
God bless you, Kev, and thanks for all of the memories.
He was a proper player. As gentle and unassuming as he was off the pitch, he was a bull on it – all power and strength and no little skill and finishing ability
NEW SEASON RUSH OF EXPECTATION
Fozzy shares an evocative piece after attending the opening day of the 2024-25 Premier League season as Arsenal paid tribute to the late Kevin Campbell before beating Wolves 2-0
Where does the time go?
This was the start of my 62nd season as a Gooner, and seemed like only the other day when I was going through the turnstiles and into the schoolboy’s enclosure in front of the east stand at Highbury, before graduating into centre of the North Bank.
When excess of 60,000 was occasionally packed into the old ground and after the final whistle your feet never really touched the ground as the mass ranks of fans all moved as one to the back of the terrace and down the steps into Gillespie Road. Then came the all-seater stadium and the mad scramble for tickets through the ridiculously inadequate website. Then the move to the new stadium with the feeling that it would never be the same.
Some things still remain, though. The rush of expectation for the start of the new season when making my way out of Finsbury Park Station.
Trying to be polite as possible while easing my way into the Twelve Pins, and then realising that it was a hopeless task to get anywhere near to buying a drink, and in desperation having to cross the road to The Blackstock. Where friendly female bar staff served up a pint of foul smelly liquid that masqueraded as beer. Come to think about it, I have never had a decent pint in that place.
Then the walk down St Thomas’s Road where your mind played tricks on you as you thought you could see once again the back of the old North Bank, but then realising that it was now something else. Snaking my way round passing an almost empty Arsenal Tube Station. How pathetic for TfL to close off a chunk of the Piccadilly Line at the start of the new season.
Then up the steps and over the bridge with the ever-present cannabis fumes hanging in the air. Still the same incompetent security staff outside the stadium who haven’t got a clue what they were meant to be doing.
Back inside the ground, in Block 5, near the corner flag where everybody invariably stood for the entire match, and no sign of a steward telling folk to sit on the seats provided.
Squinting at the big screen and trying to make sense of the tiny images that accompanied the tribute to the amazing Kevin Campbell.
I remember making trips to Highbury especially to watch Kevin before he broke into the first team as he was head and shoulders better than anybody else on the pitch.
Then the two sets of team names were shown on the screen. Was this some idea of a joke to use such a tiny font? [See AISA for more on this] I know that I should have gone to SpecSavers but that was ridiculous.
The match started and anybody with any sense could see that the referee, Mr Jarred Gillett, was not exactly razor sharp. His decision making was at best bewildering and haphazard.
Of course, he wasn’t helped by a certain Mr Tierney on VAR who must be the most appalling ref on the circuit. Being so close to the action, it was painful to observe some of the dreadful decision making. The Kai Havertz strangling incident occurred in front of me and it was obvious that the defender knew exactly what he was doing.
However, I must disagree with some of the postmatch reports. Too many of our boys were off the pace. You could understand for those who were away for the Euros, but watching Alex Zinchenko making so many unforced errors that I ran out of fingers when counting them up. He reminded me of a latter-day Denilson. Thomas Partey seemed to be a couple of yards behind the play.
That said, the two goals were moments of sheer beauty, three points were in the bag, and we all went home happy.
GOOD TO BE BACK
Loyal Gooner Thomas Dow who travels home and every to see The Arsenal every week says Mikel Arteta’s side are on the verge of something special
Afterwhat seems like a million international tournaments, it feels so good to have real football back.
Despite the break, I have found myself glued to social media, gripped by rumours and possibilities regarding the development of this Arsenal side. The transfer market has felt tame compared to previous windows, with our business seemingly reliant on departures before prioritising incomings. It is easy to forget about last season though.
We finished with 89 points and missed out on the title by a fine margin. We had the best defence in the league and have now added Riccardo Calafiori to the squad, not to mention the return of Jurrien Timber.
We aren’t though, a perfect team, which is where supporter frustrations come in. There are opportunities to improve not only the starting XI, but also to raise the floor of the squad. This, no doubt, is the next phase of the squad's development.
The season ahead does feel crucial though. If this group of players are to be remembered, they need to start winning trophies.
Thomas Dow @GoonerFanzine
Arsenal are on the brink of something special.
We have a squad that can compete with one of the best teams of all time, but the window and title of plucky underdogs has now passed.
Arsenal are simply a great team, prepped to take on that final hurdle. Expectations have been raised both inside and outside the club.
Mikel Areta and his squad must deliver, while we must play our part. Whoever pulls on that shirt needs our unrelenting support. If they make a mistake, we need to collectively pick them back up.
Whether you travel home and away, attend a couple of games a season or watch from home, we all have an important role to play in the success of this football club.
So, strap yourselves in and get ready for a rollercoaster of a season. It’s going to be stressful, emotional and throughout the next nine months, will dominate our lives.
I can’t wait.
Herewe go again, trying to go one better than last season.
I sometimes fear a little for the players’ mindset, at the back of their minds they must be wondering what more can they do.
To have had such a great season in 2023-24, being the best in so many categories and still not winning anything must affect their mentality, especially the England players, who have got so far in their tournaments in recent years.
At the pub at the end of the last game of last season, no matter how many times I kept telling myself that we had over-achieved, how we were still on an upward spiral with a young squad, that we would not lose any good players and only add to such a great team, I really felt sad that North London was not going crazy celebrating a title win on the final day.
We all knew it was a very slim chance, but it still felt close enough to imagine, and I got to the point where I just wanted to go home.
As good as Manchester City are, I don’t think they get the recognition that any other team achieving what they have won would get, as we all know it’s a false victory.
It’s such a shame that the 115 charges have still not been dealt with (or is it 135 now).
I think it really harms the Premier League, we have all heard past comments about the Italian league being tarnished with all the scandals that have happened in Italy over the years and it is so frustrating how it took five or six years
for the issues concerning Man City to first come to the public’s attention. Why were these issues not picked up on straightaway?
If we had beaten them to the title on the last day, it seems incredible they would not have won one domestic trophy last season, so to go from the domestic treble and the Champions league trophy to nothing at all - surely a reason to sack their manager...
Kevin Campbell RIP
It was so sad to hear the news about the passing of Kevin Campbell, a player much loved by Arsenal fans.
I was always very keen on watching the careers of promising young Arsenal players and he was probably the first young player that I really followed as an adult, such was his incredible form in the reserves. I would mention him quite often in early columns of Mickey Cannon in this fanzine.
I even went to watch him play for Orient one night at Colchester in February 1989, such was the buzz about him. He was featured on the front cover of issue 17 with the wording ‘The difference – Champions or also – rans’. He didn’t feature much at all as we finished as also rans but did go on to feature so much more and won medals with the first team. RIP Kev.
Summer break
This summer break has felt a lot shorter due to all the tournaments this summer. I feel that both Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice put in
Fan favourite Mickey Cannon looks at the season ahead, Kevin Campbell, the Summer break, Silverware and more
good displays for England, in a team that only really played well for an hour through the whole tournament, where Spain were such easily deserving winners.
Elsewhere I think William Saliba looked very good for France and no doubt impressed a lot of French fans who hadn’t seen much of him up until then, but apart from that, there wasn’t a lot of impact from the Arsenal players.
They have all arrived back safe and fit, though as I write, Takehiro Tomiyasu is injured yet again.
I think most fans realise that we need to rotate more and to do this.
Mikel Arteta needs to have more faith in players coming into the starting eleven and not seeing the levels drop too much.
We can cover certain positions, but we still need to strengthen in certain areas, but to date, this has not really happened with new signings.
Perhaps more may come in when more have gone out, but at the moment, the first eleven looks very similar to last season.
He was probably the first young player that I really followed as an adult, such was his incredible form in the reserves. I would mention him quite often in early columns of Mickey Cannon in this fanzine
Familiarity and consistency works well in football though, when you read that Manchester United had 14 different centre back pairings last season, it’s no surprise that they were a mess in defence.
Another good example is Brighton. They quickly went from a team likely to break into the top six, to mid-table inconsistency, by seemingly playing a brand new player every other match.
We were certainly much better for the fact that Saliba and Gabriel played together in 36 league games, but we cannot get so lucky again this season, maybe this position is where new signing Riccardo Califiori may get most game time.
The fixture computer gave us a very tough start to this season, having to play Aston Villa, Spurs and City so early isn’t ideal at all.
Cup focus
I really hope we get favourable domestic cup draws this season, so that we can rotate more than we have been in the last couple of seasons, but with City almost inevitably winning the league, Arteta needs to take the League
and FA Cup as seriously as possible, to give this incredible team some silverware, and the success they deserve.
Farewell ESR
Like all Arsenal fans I’m sure, I’m sad to see Emille Smith Rowe leave, but I think we all realise it is for the best, not just for us but for his career too.
We received a good fee for him, and yes, he’ll score goals for Fulham, play well and make us wonder what may have happened – but think if he hadn’t of been an Arsenal youngster, the wish to persevere with him and try again for another season wouldn’t have been anywhere near as strong.
I am certain he will receive a superb reaction from the crowd when he plays us this season.
I’m looking forward to seeing more of Ethan Nwaneri, if we don’t use him, we’ll lose him, so give him more game time please Mikel.
Drayton Arms re-opens
At a time when so many pubs continue to close, especially Arsenal pubs, it is nice to see that The Drayon Arms has finally reopened and it will no longer be an away pub - so I look forward to trying it at some stage.
Enjoy the season, it’s going to be a long one.
A NIGHT TO REMEMBER
Steve Pye - aka That’s 1980s blog - recalls that never to be forgotten evening at Highbury when Super Kevin Campbell made his mark
Timing
is everything.
As Arsenal’s faltering defence of their league title continued into March 1990, a young player who had earned rave reviews was about to lay down a marker for the future.
A 3-0 win at Highbury against Nottingham Forest would be a night to remember for the young Kevin Campbell.
In hindsight it is easy to justify the hype surrounding Campbell. As part of the youth and reserve teams during the 1987-88 season, the young forward netted 59 goals, helping the club to win their first FA Youth Cup since 1971. But George Graham had a plan for the latest gem from the Arsenal youth system.
Loaned to Leyton Orient during the 198889 season, Campbell scored nine goals in 16 matches, and another short spell at Leicester in the next campaign that saw him net five times in 11 appearances.
Having already made his debut for Arsenal as a substitute at Everton at the end of the 1987-88 season, Campbell’s loan spells were seen as perfect preparation for first team action at Highbury.
Campbell would play a crucial role in getting Arsenal over the line in the race for the title. Scoring eight league goals
Steve Pye @1980sSportsBlog
As the 1989-90 campaign progressed, it was obvious that Arsenal desperately needed some fresh blood.
Prior to the Forest match the team had gone five matches without scoring, slipping further behind Liverpool in the title race and exiting the FA Cup at the hands of QPR.
You don’t need to be a football pundit to notice a few obvious things when viewing the YouTube highlights of the Nottingham Forest fixture at Highbury on March 7.
For the first 40 minutes, Arsenal huff and puff, clearly short of confidence. The crowd pick up on this, almost as anxious as the players, as an air of vulnerability surrounds the stadium.
Forest seem to sense an opportunity to add to Arsenal’s problems.
Brian Clough’s team of the late 80s/early 90s was criminally underrated – twice third in the league, two FA Cup semi-finals, two League Cup wins – and arriving at Highbury unbeaten in nine matches and above Arsenal in the league, Forest dominated the early exchanges.
Brian Rice hit the Arsenal woodwork, John Lukic saved well from Garry Parker, and Brian Laws also went close, as the away team broke with menace.
Yet the whole nature of the match changed after the introduction of Campbell in the 24th minute of the game.
Graham had wisely tried to be sensible with Campbell. Ignoring calls to select the 20-yearold earlier in the season, Graham reasoned that there would be far too much expectation and pressure on Campbell to solve Arsenal’s lack of cutting edge. But when Paul Merson limped off,
Graham knew the time had come to unleash his new weapon.
Immediately a buzz rippled around the ground. “One Kevin Campbell” chants echoed from the stands, as one of our own was given a chance to confirm his promise.
In the 42nd minute, Arsenal’s 518-minute goal drought was over when Perry Groves headed Kevin Richardson’s corner. The handbrake was finally off.
Tony Adams doubled Arsenal’s lead from another corner just after the hour, but it was Campbell’s display that had fans and journalists purring with delight.
Outmuscling and outpacing Forest centre back Des Walker on numerous occasions – not an easy feat against such a classy defender – Campbell justifiably dominated newspaper column inches following the match.
The icing on the cake for Arsenal fans arrived in the 77th minute. Latching on to a delicious Alan Smith flick, Campbell held off Walker before firing a left foot shot past Steve Sutton. “The smile of a very satisfied young man,” commentator Alan Parry noted. “And the Arsenal crowd believe that will be one goal of many more in this man’s career.”
There was still time for Nigel Clough to miss twice from the spot after the referee had ordered a retake, but after the laughter had subsided, it was the name of Kevin Campbell that reverberated in the Highbury sky.
After the match Geroge Graham naturally urged caution regarding Arsenal’s new star, yet it was hard to calm down the hope that Super Kev had created.
A year later, Campbell would play a crucial role in getting Arsenal over the line in the race for the title. Scoring eight league goals in the crucial period between February and April, Campbell proved that he had the right stuff.
Maybe his Arsenal career may not have reached these heights after Ian Wright became the focal point of the team. But his role at the club should not be underplayed.
It is a poignant moment seeing Super Kev celebrating his first goal for Arsenal against Forest. That beautiful smile spreads across his face as he embraces David Rocastle. Both Arsenal youth products, both players who gave us hope and joy, both taken far too soon.
Young men that knew what it meant to pull on the Arsenal shirt and represented the club with pride.
Arsenal, I love you
OnAugust 16, 2021, exactly one week after my 42nd birthday, I received an email from Arsenal Football Club that changed my life forever writes Ian Jenkinson.
I had been waiting for this moment my whole life. It was Arsenal FC finally offering me a season ticket. I couldn’t believe it, I nearly fell off my chair in work when I read it.
I have been travelling to see The Arsenal from Dublin since 1996. Most of the time I took a ticket from wherever I could get one and on average I got to maybe two games a season but now I literally had a golden ticket.
In this article I am going to share some experiences I’ve had travelling over to games since I’ve become a season ticket holder (and one or two from before).
The trips can take a lot out of you I won’t lie. They nearly always start with an alarm going off at a ludicrously early time to catch a red eye flight into London. When doing a day trip it often ends with a delayed flight home and getting to bed in the early hours of the following morning.
Most of the trips that I do however are overnights and they are my favourites. It’s remarkable to see all the Arsenal shirts in Dublin airport, most of which are sipping pints (including me) at hours of the day that are normally reserved for sleeping!
One downfall however, is you also see some fans of other clubs which leads me on to the first game I went to as a season ticket holder. It was against Norwich City and I had started the walk from security to the Ryanair gates in Dublin Airport. It’s a long walk that we lovingly refer to as “The Ryanair 5K”.
Unfortunately, two Man Utd fans spotted me and decided to slate me all the way to the gate. They'd just re-signed Ronaldo, we had lost our first three games and sat bottom of the table. Of course they thought Man Utd were winning it all and they abused me for 10 minutes straight.
I had the last laugh though because as it transpired, Ronaldo was shit, Man Utd were a mess and we finished 11 points ahead of them that season. I have been looking out for those two smug idiots ever since.
One of the best memories I have of travelling over to a game is when my cousins and I bumped into the one and only Ian Wright in Heathrow Airport! It was the last game of the 21-22 season against Everton.
We got off the flight and my cousin Mick said he needed to go to the loo, he promised us it was only a wee but 10 minutes later he was still in there. The rest of us were fuming as Mick has a habit of delaying us like this.
Eventually he surfaces and we all walk towards arrivals, all of us having a go at Mick for taking so long. We turn a corner and there was Ian Wright standing right in front of us! He is as much a gentleman as you can imagine, he stopped and chatted with us for a few minutes and jumped into a photo with all of us.
We were all starstruck and as we walked away we could hardly speak. Then Mick blurted out the now immortal line - “You wouldn’t have met Ian Wright only for I took a long shit!”. You couldn’t make it up!
We also met Katie McCabe in Heathrow Airport who was also very generous with her time. Ireland and Arsenal, what a combination!
Another amazing trip we had before getting my season ticket was Arsene Wenger’s last home game. Mick and I got to the stadium early to soak up the atmosphere. We had gotten our jersey’s freshly printed, his had “Wenger 96-18 Wonderland” on it and I had “There’s Only 1 Arsene Wenger” on mine.
We were walking around the concourse when a camera crew approached us and asked could they do a bit of filming of the jersey’s and ask us a few questions. We of course said yes and when the whole thing was finished
we asked who they were filming for (we just assumed it was for the club) and they said it was for Match of The Day. We thought nothing more of it because we didn’t think they’d use any of our footage.
Fast forward to that night, Mick and I were on a flight home and when we turned on our phones after landing, they lit up like Christmas trees with dozens of messages from friends and family saying they saw us on Match of the Day! It was incredible. We also had our photo posted to the official Arsenal Instagram page and it was liked by over 154,000 people!
Anyone who travels from abroad will attest to the stress of getting to and from games in time. If there is even the slightest delay you may not either make the game or the flight home.
The season before last we were playing Man Utd at home and there was a slight delay on the flight over. When we landed we quickly got on to the tube thinking we had escaped disaster.
The tube stopped after a few stops and we were told someone had climbed on the roof of a station further up the line and the tube was terminated. We hopped off with hundreds of other Arsenal fans and there was a race to get taxis to the stadium.
We eventually got into the stadium with 42 minutes gone on the clock. Disaster. But we did get to see Saka’s worldy and Nketiah’s last ditch winner so it was a happy ending!
Then there was the time we stayed at a friend’s house in London, they had a black and white carpet but we were told strictly to only step on the black bits (true story)! One time my cousin Sinead was so drunk after a game that she couldn’t physically use the vending machine at our hotel and I had to step in and show her.
When Reiss Nelson scored the winner against Bournemouth I was so drunk and euphoric that I high fived about 500 people coming down the steps at block 133!
Every time I look at my passport I think of The Arsenal. This is because the front of it that normally has the emblem of Ireland – The Harp in gold is almost completely faded away from me travelling so often to London to see our beloved club. If I could sum up my dedication to the club in one picture, that would be it.
I haven’t had time to properly mention the pubs we frequent, The Gunners, The Coronet and The Tollington to name a few. I could write a book on Arsenal trips and maybe I will do a follow up piece later in the season but for now I will leave it there.
Here’s to all the friends I’ve made and all the experiences I’ve had going to see the greatest football club in the world. Arsenal, I love you.
EVOLVE OR REPEAT?
coach mike’s tactics
The Gooner’s resident tactical expert Coach Mike analyses improvements and new tactics that Arsenal are set to use during 2024-25
Do Arsenal need a new look this season or could they just press repeat and win the Premier League?
Well, maybe. They already have five ‘new players’ who will add to the first team and most certainly the bench. A good coach won’t just look at new signings as new players, they will see anyone that wasn’t available to them last season as a ‘new player.’
Technically, we have signed Riccardo Calafiori and David Raya. But Jurrien Timber is a ‘new player’ and Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly are too.
The coach will then look at improvements that can be made in two ways.
Firstly, those players that had a down season like Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli. They could both be a significantly improved version of 23-24.
Then you have the natural improvement of the whole squad. Will Declan Rice be 10% better in his second season? Probably.
Then you have competitive improvement. The best way to get anybody to improve in the workplace is to give them competition from someone as good or better than them at the same job. Will Gabriel be 10% better because Calafiori has shown up? Probably.
Tactically, we could just press ‘repeat’ and simply lean into all of the changes above. The thing is though that Arsenal aren’t trying to make a huge step. Most of what we saw last season was highly impressive.
I think there will be small tweaks to an established system. Mainly because one of
Arsenal’s advantages is their automatisms that Arteta has created in them that make everything so organized and free of having to think on the field.
Here are a few tactics that I noticed in preseason and some other tweaks he may add.
I’ve noticed a new trend of attackers overloading the back post on crosses. The idea is to avoid the centre backs who are ordinarily the best defenders in the air.
We have been right side heavy for the last few years. Using Ben White, Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard to build up the left side to finish. In order to become more unpredictable, I see us building up on both sides as we did during the 4-1 victory over Bayer Leverkusen. We are strengthening the left side this summer in order to do this.
Odegaard is playing a freer role now. Perhaps that is why we signed Mike Merino. He would bring more defensive structure with Rice, leaving Odegaard to press and provide.
Mike McDonald @mike_mmcdonald
Merino may turn us into a stronger transition threat. He is the number one duel winner in Europe. As he wins turnovers, we put ourselves into an even stronger position to be able to score from broken play when defensive units are totally disorganised.
If Jesus starts at striker we may see Kai Havertz making runs into the hole left by Jesus.
We may see inversion from the left instead of the right. Timber or Calafiori stepping alongside Rice. Both so competent in dual winning and anticipation as well as progressing both on the dribble or with line breaking passes.
As roles and automatisms are set for most, we should see faster ball movement in the final third. Hoping for one touch balls coming from deeper to split a non-compact back four who are waiting for the midfielder to take a touch and catch his eye.
Arsenal are progressively becoming more innovative at set plays. Taking advantage of all the small margins. We saw the throw-in last season where the forward would wander to the touchline and the throw was sent into the box for a seemingly uninterested player to attack.
Will we see either Calafiori or Lewis Skelly overlapping on the left?
I’m sure we will see more rotation. With the increased number of games in the Champions
League, more players will have to be trusted. Saka, Saliba and Odegaard will need resting in particular. They won’t be able to play back-toback-to-back full seasons.
With many games and five subs these days, I have a feeling that we may see certain players subbed at half time. I’d imagine that wingers in particular may be asked to give more for 45 minutes and share time.
I’m hoping we sweep the lava out of the six yard box. Arsenal’s biggest weakness is scoring simple goals. Tap ins. We are elite and beating the full back, cutting in and scoring off cut backs but rarely dissect the six yard box.
There is also an issue with movement in the box. Think back to RVP and how he would make two runs/two movements to deceive the defender. We don’t have that quality and this could help the six yard box issue amongst a few other scenarios.
Arsenal are in great hands with Mikel Arteta, in a great place and I can smell the Premier League trophy this season.
ARSENAL W.F.C
WhereFreddie Cardy
@CardyFreddie
did the summer go, then? A postseason friendly in Melbourne, Australia and pre-season tour of the United States, either side of a hectic international window including the Olympic Games, and May has suddenly become September.
If the summer months have been busy, the 2024-25 Women’s Super League season will offer little respite for Arsenal Women.
The Gunners will have to play four games just to reach the UEFA Women’s Champions League group stage, having finished third in the Women’s Super League, and will kick off this qualification campaign at Meadow Park in early September.
The Champions League will rightfully rank high amongst Arsenal’s priorities, particularly having failed to reach last season’s group stage, but top of Jonas Eidevall’s to-do list can only be one thing. Winning the Women’s Super League for the first time since 2018-9.
Having taken over at the start of 2021-22, Eidevall’s Arsenal were pipped to the WSL title by Chelsea on the final day of his first season in charge by one point.
Finishing third the following year was supplemented by a remarkable run to the Champions League semi-finals amidst a devastating injury crisis.
However, 2023-24 proved to pile the pressure on Eidevall as Arsenal could only manage a consecutive third-place finish, ending the season five points behind champions Chelsea.
The Gunners improved their ability to take on the likes of Emma Hayes’ (now Sonia Bompastor’s) Blues and Manchester City, with a notable win over Chelsea at Emirates Stadium proving a highlight, but as Arsenal went toe-to-toe with the big guns, the underdogs became an achilles’ heel.
Underdogs may be an unfair word to use in an evermore competitive WSL division, but defeats to Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham proved crucial, particularly in a league where each side will only play 22 games.
Arsenal worked hard on their kryptonite of breaking down low blocks and finished the season strongly, not to forget yet another Conti Cup final win over Chelsea- a second trophy for Eidevall since his arrival three years ago.
MAKE OR BREAK
Having watched Chelsea claim a third title in a row, discontent had been slowly growing amongst Arsenal fans as hopes of more silverware faded away. Then, a big decision that would split the fanbase in half.
Vivianne Miedema would leave Arsenal at the end of 2023-24, going on to join Manchester City. The WSL’s all-time leading goalscorer was reportedly not offered a new contract by the club after struggling to find form following an ACL injury.
Eidevall was unable to get the best out of Miedema during his tenure, and the decision to part ways was a mutual one. Should Miedema flourish at Man City, it may come back to bite the Swede, and she will have the opportunity to do so at Emirates Stadium on the first day of the new season when City travel to North London.
Arsenal have brought in Barcelona’s versatile and experienced forward Mariona Caldentey- not a Miedema replacement as such, but a clever player who can offer plenty of quality on the left wing or behind the striker.
Talented Dutch goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar has arrived from Aston Villa to provide
competition for Manu Zinsberger, with Sabrina D’Angelo going the other way.
Victoria Pelova will miss most of the season after suffering an ACL injury on international duty, so competition in midfield will be fascinating. Alessia Russo will look to continue her impressive form after a notable debut season.
Stina Blackstenius, Leah Williamson and Laura Wienroither have all signed new contracts, and Emily Fox has returned to the club with an Olympic Gold medal.
Jonas Eidevall has a squad that should be challenging in all three domestic competitions and on the continent this season.
The Arsenal head coach knows this better than anyone, and is fully aware of the pressure that surrounds him and his side this season.
As the most successful side in English women’s football history, Arsenal and Eidevall know that winning the WSL title is nothing short of imperative.
Anything less, and calls for a change of management will never be louder.
JACK WILSHERE
"WE HAVE TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE PEOPLE THAT PAVED THE WAY FOR US"
Layth Yousif caught up with Jack Wilshere earlier this month to interview the Arsenal legend who is now fast becoming a highly-rated coach
Read on for his special feature on the former player who will always have a special place in Gooner hearts, who is currently making waves inside the Arsenal Academy
The handshake is firm, and the eyes bright, as the steely character in front of me gears up for his latest challenge.
Former Arsenal and England midfielder Jack Wilshere has been busy learning his trade as a coach at Hale End, as the increasingly renowned boss of the club’s U18 side, working under the sage guidance of former teammate, and academy boss Per Mertesacker.
Two FA Cups, a Community Shield and 34 international caps are scant reward for such a generational talent, even if the popular Wilshere will always be revered by Gooners everywhere.
Despite his stature, Wilshere was truly a footballing colossus. Talent, technique, temperament, the ability to drive forward, which, allied with his innate vision and creativity, and fuelled by a fierce will to win that ensured the lad from Hitchin could compete in the heart of battle, with a tenacity that shone brightly, through his love of The Arsenal.
Yet he was plagued by a raft of injuries that took its toll on a midfielder who had it all. Cut down in his peak by a succession of debilitating injuries, which Transfermarkt list over two deflating pages.
Which is why we meet the bright and engaging Wilshere at two non-league grounds in a matter of days in early August. First, in his hometown, Hitchin Town, as his young charges ease their way into the new season, with a hard-fought 1-0 loss to Brett Donnelly’s Canaries. Then a trip to NW9 to take on Lee Allinson’s (son of Arsenal 1980s icon Ian Allinson) Hendon FC side.
For Wilshere is busy carving out a name for himself as a coach. Not to mention a mentor, shaping the lives of numerous precociously talented teenagers, as coach of the Arsenal U18s.
It’s hard to believe that Wilshere has been back at Arsenal two years already, quietly progressing his trade as coach, away from the limelight.
“I’ve learned so much since I went back to the club [as U18s boss],” Wilshere tells me pitchside after his side lost 2-1 to Hendon in an entertaining match at Silver Jubilee Park against Allinson’s side, containing a number of seasoned non-league footballers.
Warming to his theme, as he nods to the pitch behind him, Wilshere says: “Ironically, this place was
Layth interviews Jack Wilshere after the U18s pre-season friendly at Hendon.
my first game [as boss] two years ago here –and in those two years I’ve learned so much about the importance of people, and what a good environment does for people, not least in terms of pushing the players.
“I’ve also learned as well that, when you think you’re doing ok, and you’re learning and you feel like you’re making progress, there is always something else.
“I’m always looking to improve - and also find different ways to improve. On the pitch of course, but also in the environment of the club as a coach. I’ve definitely learned so much.
It is fitting that the match against Allinson’s Hendon side is a stone’s throw away from the famed Haslemere Avenue, home of Arsenal’s imperious football emperor Herbert Chapman before his untimely death in 1934.
As befits Wilshere, who is a true Arsenal man, steeped in the history and heritage of the club and the players and managers that came before, the 32-year-old does he think it is important to instil such past knowledge of the club into his youngsters.
“Yes, I do,” the astute Wilshere replies immediately, adding: “I think that’s important.
“I think traditionally in football we lose a little bit of the past. There is something at times in football when you lose a little bit of the past, and it’s important that we always try and stay in
touch with that – for example what we do and why are we here?
“We have to acknowledge the people that paved the way for us. What work did they do [to become successful] and we have to continue to build on that work – and keep finding ways of improving and moving forward and making progress – while also staying in touch with that.”
It is so refreshing to note that there is such a great culture at the club these days, once again, not least produced by having so many former players welcomed back into the fold.
“Absolutely,” Wilshere concurs. “The way I see the club now – not only on the pitch, but in terms of culture in the academy, what we’re trying to do, what we need to do, is to keep raising the bar. It’s a really enjoyable place to be at the moment.”
See issue 308 for part two of our exclusive interview with Jack Wilshere
Layth with Jack after the U18s friendly at Top Field against Hitchin Town
Before meeting Jack at Hendon FC, Gooner editor Layth made a pilgrimage to Haslemere Avenue, Herbery Chapman's former house
TRAGEDY, TEDIUM AND TABOOS OF A CONTINENTAL TILT
Arsenal’s last two seasons have been remarkable. It feels like this renaissance is bound to be writ large in the future history of the Club.
We know why, of course: a historic rebound from years of malaise and under-performance to imperious (and, hopefully, ultimately successful) title-challenging campaigns.
The narrative is clear and it’s about – it’s all about – the Premier League… except a revamped UEFA Champions League is around the corner, and it offers an opportunity for European glory that has been far too rare in Arsenal’s history.
That said, there’s long been ambivalence about our Club’s forays onto the continent. For Double-winner Jon Sammels, European awaydays held no romantic allure.
“Whenever some new trip comes up my neighbours and friends say: ‘Aren’t you lucky?’
Perhaps it is time that I set the record straight and showed that going away, particularly for a European match, is not quite the bed of roses it might seem.
I know that I cannot expect anyone who is not a footballer to feel sorry for us… Yet, believe me, many players envy the ordinary person the long months of pleasurable anticipation of his foreign holiday and, perhaps more important, his comparative freedom throughout the year.
Highbury Librarian @N5Librarian
For so far as foreign travel is concerned the fantasy is mocked by the reality.
Frequently a journey into Europe is no fun at all. From the moment we are herded together at the airport and put on the plane and I doubt whether anyone pulls on his seat belt without remembering what happened to Manchester United at Munich in 1958 – the thing is strictly business.”
Sammels with Oxby (1971), Double Champions: Playing the Arsenal Way, p.59
Jon saw the potential for not only tragedy, but also tedium.
“Apart from the preparations for the match and the match itself, the abiding memory is of hours of idleness in hotel lobbies.
Boredom is one thing, but when you are bored and worried as well, you risk neurosis.
The big problem is that there is little you can do to take your mind off things. Training? Well, with an important match coming up you can only do a limited amount of that.
Sight-seeing? Usually taboo because, as any tourist knows, there is nothing more tiring. Nights out? Taboo again, for obvious reasons…
Many clubs have followed the pattern set by Leeds, those regular European competitors, who…, like Arsenal, go on the day before the
The Highbury Librarian reflects on Arsenal’s recent resurgence, balancing League aspirations with the challenges of European competition by looking at “Double Champions: Playing the Arsenal Way” by Jon Sammels with Oxby (1971)
match. That means the players have only one evening to fill.
Mr Revie always send an advance party to find a comparatively noiseless and odourless hotel, and insists that a private common room is provided.
That is so that the party can play indoor bowls or hold bingo sessions to while away the time.”
Sammels with Oxby (1971), Double Champions: Playing the Arsenal Way, p.60
Given the intense competitiveness of professional footballers, I expect that, on a European jaunt, indoor bowls would reach a feverish enthusiasm with brutal mind games and knee-slide celebrations. Though European competition may have brought many opportunities for Jon to work on his jack-high backhand draw, so much needless time on the training ground was sacrificed.
“Every club works to a weekly routine, and the growing number of mid-week matches
plays havoc with the training schedule.
To play a European match in, say, Yugoslavia on Wednesday, means leaving London early on Tuesday and not arriving at the destination until early evening.
That means that a day’s training is missed, except for a mild loosener under the lights of the opposing club.
Match day must be devoted mainly to relaxation, although we have developed the practice of having a mild run around in the morning.
Thursday is normally the day for travelling home and, again, training is out of the question; with only Friday intervening before Saturday’s important First Division match, anything strenuous must be avoided.”
Sammels with Oxby (1971), Double Champions: Playing the Arsenal Way, p.67
Then, there’s the problem that has, from Zinny to Tomi and from Big Willy to Little Gabi,
animated the worry beads of Arsenal supporters everywhere.
“A slight knock received on Saturday will, in normal circumstances, be better by Tuesday or Wednesday, but it can be as bad as ever by Thursday if the player has had to play another match. This is how those chronic, niggling injuries which never seem to come right develop. I’m thinking of something like a groin strain which never seems bad enough to keep you out of the game, but which always seems to be holding you back that fatal fraction. With one match a week the thing will disappear. With two, it hangs around for weeks.”
Sammels with Oxby (1971), Double Champions: Playing the Arsenal Way, p.67
For those that cross fingers and touch wood whenever Bukayo Saka gets clattered, this is ominous stuff.
As an enlarged Champions League slots into our packed schedule, it may feel like an unwanted distraction from the main goal, or even a burden that could derail our tilt at the Premier League title. After all, we’ve seen this horror movie before with a one-two punch in a Europa League tie against Sporting Lisbon.
We’ll never know how our League challenge may have sustained had Tomiyasu and Saliba not been lost in the middle of March. Though there are (at least) 115 reasons to be all-in on our bid to knock that lot off the top of the Premier League, ascending to be European champions would, perhaps, more distinctly elevate our Club’s status in the eye of the footballing world.
So, when giddily breathing the rarefied atmosphere at the summit of the Premier League, let’s not forget that – if only our squad can cope with the twice-weekly exertions –victory in Munich would be truly glorious.
European silverware lifted under lights, eh? Jon Sammels knows a thing or two about that.
THE GREAT DIVIDE
Peter Le Beau takes a deep dive into the North London derby and tries to understand just what makes the fixture such a feisty clash in the first of six parts that will run throughout the season
Ilastwent to the men’s team North London Derby at Tottenham in 2007. I went with my son-in-law who sadly supports them.
Before the game we went into a Tottenham pub –the home support was rabid. At the bar I asked one of the lads queuing what he expected to happen today. “We’re gonna lose aren’t we, we always lose to that lot,” was his reply.
When, rather mischievously, I enquired why, he commented, “Because they are miles better than us!” (expletives deleted). We were in the middle of an unbeaten run against them which extended to 17 games. For the record, we conceded a last-minute goal by Jermaine Jenas which gave them a fortuitous point. From the reactions you would have thought they had won the Champions League!
While we were drinking, we went into the beer garden. As you might expect, a lot of anti-Arsenal songs were being sung. I expected this but what I naively didn’t expect was the level of hatred for Arsenal. Vitriol was dripping from every pore.
Of course, at our place, we sing a lot of derogatory songs about Spurs but (and this may be my imagination) they are sung with a degree of humour and amusement.
However, in that garden there was sheer naked aggression. I recalled that moment when I was wending my way through Liverpool Street station on the afternoon when Spurs played that notorious game with Manchester City last May.
The hate towards Arsenal was tangible in the media, among Spurs fan sites and in conversation. It struck me that the relationship, on their side anyway, had become profoundly toxic.
I thought I would take a look at how the rivalry has developed since I first followed Arsenal and why it has reached the extremes of toxicity we see now.
@GoonerFanzine
And importantly, how the balance of power has altered in North London over sixty years. I will look at the different eras and the respective fortunes of the teams and the big off-field incidents that have created the level of animosity which we are seeing today.
I thought I would examine the relationship between the clubs a generation on, and try to achieve an objective comparison of where they are but also, intriguingly, how they got there over the course of the season in the Gooner Fanzine.
If you are under 40 and an Arsenal fan you may never remember a time when Tottenham were consistently more successful than Arsenal other than a short period recently, under Pochettino and Conte, when they held bragging rights.
Before that, we were able to celebrate St. Totteringham’s Day regularly. But, taking a longer historical perspective the ebbs and flows in the rivalry have created some very dramatic shifts.
So, we’ll be examining the historical evidence over the course of this season.
See the Gooner Fanzine across all six issues during 2024-25 for Peter’s forensic analysis of the Arsenal vs Spurs rivalry.
HONOURS
Arsenal
Football League: 10
Premier League: 3
FA Cups: 14
League Cup: 2
European Cup
Winners Cup: 1
Fairs Cup: 1
Total trophy haul: 31
Tottenham
Football League: 2
Premier League: 0
FA Cups: 8
League Cup: 4
European Cup
Winners Cup: 1
UEFA Cup: 2
Total trophy haul: 17
Peter Le Beau
REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL... AGAIN
Anew season is a time for renewal, a time for optimism.
With that in mind here’s some reasons for Gooners to be cheerful and, yes optimistic, as the new season dawns.
Even if, sadly, the kits we will be wearing this season don’t feature, as frankly it’s the worst triptych I can remember in many a year – very disappointing, Adidas.
Over the last three years we have consistently improved year on year as the management team have shown a repeated ability to identify both tactical tweaks needed to enhance performance and the players required to take us up a level.
Last season Declan Rice was the marquee signing and made a huge difference and Kai
Charlie Ashmore @GoonerFanzine
Havertz who felt a bit like a wild card signing looked inspired by the end of the season.
Indeed, last season we had what was statistically our best ever season and that was despite losing Jurrien Timber to a season ending injury in the first match and with two of our attacking mainstays ( Garbriel Jesus and Gabi Martinelli) underperforming.
It is a feeling Liverpool came to understand but the truth is in any other era, absent Abu Dhabi 115 FC’s annual theft of the title, we would be champions. Indeed we would be double champions.
With the signing of Riccardo Calafiori (and with hair like that, he must surely be ‘worth it’) and the promised return to fitness of Timber we will have more options at the back which will enable the manager to shake things up when
needed and perhaps crucially to give the like of Ben White and William Saliba some rest.
Left back was a bit of a problem for us last season. Oleksandr Zinchenko looks like he is staying and is too intelligent a footballer not to realise he got the balance wrong. I am sure we will see a more solid player this season while Calafiori and Timber give us options there also.
The transfer window is not yet done.
Mikel Merinowill be an excellent addition to the midfield roster taking pressure off the, respectively, injury-prone and ageing legs of Thomas Partey and Jorginho.
He will also enable Rice to have the occasional rest – I cannot be alone in worrying about how shattered he looked at the end of the Euros but hopefully he will have been able to rest and recharge to some degree. He is of course essential to us now.
There is ongoing talk about an addition up front though whether it will be a striker or a Bukayo Saka back up is not yet clear. As I mentioned above Jesus and Martinelli underperformed last season in terms of goals output and it’s hard to see them doing so again.
I am assuming here that Saka will continue to deliver the numbers he has been doing and there is little sign of him not doing so. He certainly started well against Wolves. Despite everyone knowing what he does and how he does it and despite the repeated assaults on him he just keeps on going and doing his thing and even when he seems out of a game he has the canny knack of scoring or assisting from nowhere. Like Rice, I worry about how much football he has played but a fit Jesus gives us an option to rest him, even if we don’t sign anybody this summer.
I said early last season that Kai Havertz was a quality player shorn of confidence by his time at the basket case club in West London. And, despite still occasionally appearing almost apologetic when shooting, his contribution last season was immense and in no small way played a part in where we ended up.
I am confident his contribution will grow (not least after his season opener against Wolves) and he provides us with a versatility that makes in game changes so easy to make, confusing opponents who lose track of where on the pitch he is at any given moment, something he shares with most of our attacking players.
Even if we did not sign an attacking player, we have Leandro Trossard, Martinelli, Jesus, Havertz and Saka which is a pretty formidable front five. I am assuming Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson will both go (with our best wishes) but if they don’t they will remain options for certain games.
And I have not even mentioned the man who makes it all tick. A summer off for our skipper has seen- him firing on all cylinders from matchday one and an Martin Odegaard firing on all cylinders is a thing of beauty.
So all in all, I think we can legitimately be both cheerful and optimistic.
We have a tough start but negotiate that safely and we will be in a very strong position. Even if we drop points in one or two of our tough early away games there is the rest of the season to make it good.
It only remains for me to say….COME ON YOU GUNNERS!
THREE WAYS TO WIN THE LEAGUE
How do Arsenal overtake Manchester City? We should be chasing our third title in a row, instead City’s questionable means set a ridiculously high bar to thwart us.
Arsenal will have to be practically perfect to usurp City, so how do we start all over again from zero?
How do we cope with magnified media expectation, where our wins are taken for granted and celebrations are criticised, yet any points dropped are vilified?
Simple: we must get even better. There is no choice. We must raise our own bar higher, by tightening margins and demanding even more.
Set-pieces: take keepers out of the equation
We are lauded as set-piece kings. We execute planned corners and free-kicks for our tall players to head home.
Many of our first goals are now from setpieces, but there are two simple ways to score from them more often:
• Aim outside the keeper’s reach
• Use more inswingers
Simon Rose @thatsimonrose
Goalkeepers have a huge advantage at setpieces: they’re the only person allowed to use their hands. Put the ball in the keeper’s range and they’re likely to punch or catch it, ending the threat.
Aim the ball before or beyond the keeper’s reach and you immediately remove them from the equation.
Then it’s down to defenders vs attackers: suddenly it’s 50/50. See our second goal vs Lyon: the high dipping arc of Rice’s corner left the keeper flailing, to land the ball on Gabriel’s head. That is very encouraging.
Many of our free-kicks are outswingers but that angle naturally helps defenders, when one defensive touch continues the ball away from goal. An attacker must head against the ball’s direction to force it goalwards.
Inswingers aimed as curlers inside the far post are already on target and one attacking touch can be too late for a keeper to respond. Before they know it, the ball flashes in. Think of Welbeck’s winner at home to Leicester in 2016: Schmeichel had no answer.
Inswingers help attackers as one touch continues the ball goalwards, but defenders must head against the ball’s direction to force it away. And if nobody touches the ball, it goes inside the far post.
We need a Haaland equivalent
A goal can be scored in any minute, from the first to the very last, but we often experiment with finishes and don’t take our chances seriously enough. We must become ruthless. Havertz manages a reasonable effort that almost goes in and we think “Ooooh, nice try”. Haaland scores. This is what we are up against.
City have Haaland. Liverpool have Salah. Assassins who mostly score and, if they don’t, they usually do next time. Opponents are scared of Haaland and Salah. We have nice lads, but nobody is scared ofthem. There is no substitute: we must have an equivalent.
That solution either must come from within, by existing players meeting higher standards, or we sign someone. We need our own bastard up front, someone who lives to score goals and who scares opponents.
I don’t much like Ivan Toney for example, but we’d all like him more if he played for Arsenal.
Opponents would be scared of us. I’d be scared of us!
Saka must finally have a genuine deputy
It’s proven that Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard can dovetail on our left, but we have no deputy for Saka on the right. Reiss Nelson was too different and rarely trusted.
We put far too much burden on Saka: it hurts him and limits us. Phil Foden doesn’t play every game for City.
Opponents expect Saka and Martin Odegaard to pirouette on the right and seem free to negate that by walloping Saka relentlessly.
Saka is strong but takes too much flak: it’s a miracle he’s still in one piece.
We’ve needed a Saka deputy of a similar style for at least two seasons. Act, please. The
world is full of footballers, I refuse to believe there’s nobody worth signing. Players must be crawling backwards to join Arsenal these days.
Is there an internal solution? Vieira is elegant but has low impact. Nwaneri is a beautiful talent but looks more an inside right Wilshere type than a Saka flank alternative.
Conclusion
Arsenal are good enough to win the Premier League, but we cannot succeed by simply trying to repeat the last two seasons. We must do more and sharpen our act to surpass City. We must be smarter on set-pieces, scare opponents with our own Haaland and share Saka’s load. We can’t overcome City without it.
We must be brave as a club and as supporters too. Why sign Calafiori when we have Saliba and Gabriel? Because City don’t win top honours by picking favourites every week. City rotate and rest their many defenders and nobody blinks whoever they pick. Arteta and Edu understand. So trust the process, right?
THE STING
Massive Gooner and hugely-respected Arsenal journalist Nick Callow played pool with Leandro Trossard in LA this summer (as you do...) Read on to find out who won...
JULY 2024, LOS ANGELES
‘Fancy interviewing Leo Trossard over a game of pool, at the team hotel? I’m told he’s our best player.’
It did not take a second to take up the offer on day one of covering Arsenal’s pre-season USA tour.
I half expected him to saunter in with his own cue in a case, sporting a retro adidas waistcoat with a pocket for his own chalk.
Maybe Leo’s love of the all-night pool scene was the reason behind the sleep-starved, darkeyed look we have learned to love.
This was my first and by no means last ignorant pre-conception of our brilliant Belgian.
‘Here he comes’ someone shouted as I turned to see Arsenal’s answer to pool-playing Paul Newman, Tom Cruise or Maltese Joe (one for the teenagers).
No waist coat, cue in a case or even his own chalk. Instead, he sported the latest blue on blue club leisure clobber, shorts and sliders.
Sunken-eyed? Pool-fatigued? Far from it –fresh as a daisy with the clearest unblemished skin, a tan Ben White would die for and crystal clear, bright, bright eyes – he looked THE picture of health after a morning’s training in the 100 degree LA heat.
Handshakes and introductions over people started talking about football far too quickly for my liking.
‘I thought we were here to play pool?” I smiled encouragingly.
Nick Callow @strollernick
‘I don’t really know how to play’ came back the apologetic, expressionless response.
‘Not at all? I was told you were the best, and that we could do a chilled interview over a frame or two. But if you don’t know how to play…..’
Feeling anxious and a bit sorry for the charming member of the comms team who had set it up.
Not wanting to miss the opportunity, I reassured him I had been such a good player in my youth I would quickly teach him.
He warmed to that, so I said: “shall we play for money then?’
He thankfully ignored the offer and gestured towards the rack of cues on the wall. ‘As you’re so good, can you show me a good stick?’
‘Stick!? Wow! You really don’t know how to play! I thought you might be winding me up.’
I gave him what looked a half decent stick after he had suggested one without a tip and
The brilliant Ruth Beck's image of the equally brilliant Leandro Trossard
qualified my status by explaining my weekly Camden pub-league tournaments had been a long time ago.
Leo’s lack of a smile prompted me to go through the rules, starting with the suggestion he took the triangle off the rack of balls before one of us broke. He only interrupted when I explained how one of us would be on spots or stripes depending on who potted a ball first.
‘I know that bit!’ he snapped like I was the idiot now.
‘So you have played before?’
“A few times, but not really – not as much as you, obviously.’
I made a big issue explaining how he would lose if he potted the black before clearing all of his balls and then broke off with the biggest shot I could muster.
‘I thought you said you were good,’ he said before lining up his first shot and missing the pocket by a hefty margin.
I almost felt bad potting the ones he left over the pockets.
‘Two shots? What does that mean?’ he asked as I handed him back the cue after knocking in the white.
He whacked another couple of big misses and then hit the white in too. Painful. Prompted
to ask him some questions, Leo retorted that would put him off his game!
We could have chatted for ages until he said ‘shall we finish the game?’
Me/we had about five balls down and he had one fluke. Embarrassed for all of us, I deferred my next shot to a colleague so I could have a chat with the poor soul who dreamt up the pool interview idea.
Our whispered meanderings were interrupted by a shout of ‘he’s going for the black!’
‘No! Don’t!” I cried, reminding him he had to get all of his balls in before he could go for the ultimate prize.
‘I have,’ he showed me, ‘haven’t you been watching?’
He had done me – cleaned up in one visit. No wonder he ghosts past defenders too easily.
With that he was off to rejoin team-mates for a game of cards.
‘Wolf’ is his game of choice. I humbly suggest our readers decline if he ever asks to play.
Nick Callow playing pool with Leandro Trossard in LA (as you do...!)
Leandro Trossard in conversation with Nick Callow after he'd beaten him
LOVE YOU SUPER KEV
Somefootballers transcend tribal boundaries; some few can turn out for a number of clubs and always be fondly remembered and welcomed back as one of their own.
Kevin Campbell was just such a player.
I have friends who are supporters of Leicester City, Everton and Nottingham Forest – all clubs Kevin played for alongside ourselves and none of them had anything but praise, warmth and golden memories - and crucially this was before the tragic news of Kevin’s untimely, heartbreakingly early death.
When someone passes away we are all quick to gild the memory of a lost friend or hero, an all too human response; but these football people thought and spoke glowingly of Campbell when he was still very much with us; conjuring up much loved images and reminiscences of a big bear of a man with a lion’s strength and puma’s guile all topped off with a smile so sharp and disarming it could reputedly fill a room and start a party on its own.
Kevin was an Arsenal boy; growing up through the academy he helped us win the FA Youth Cup in 1988 when he seemed able to score goals for fun – 59 in one golden junior season alone.
From a young age he looked destined for elite football; a big lad who knew how to use his
Campbell was a leader in every sense of the word
David Fensome @DavidFensome
strength, but had a great touch too, vision and time on the ball.
His skill set made him look like an oldfashioned centre forward but his time spent out wide on Arsenal’s right under George Graham is testament to his all-round technical ability and undeniable adaptability.
With an engine to match his commitment and fight he was every bit the archetypal Graham footballer – someone who left it all out on the pitch, played for the badge on his shirt and NEVER had to prove he cared – his football said it all.
After making his debut as a late substitute in a 2-1 win at Everton back in May 1988 he bided his time and when he was finally unleashed, in the second half of the 1990-91 season he quickly caused havoc with stunning effect giving our title push a real injection of directness and force.
His nine league goals in just 15 starts didn’t win the title on their own but they provided another attacking front as sides uniformly retreated in the face of the power of that team.
Thereafter he became a central figure in Graham’s side, proving so effective and uncomplaining as we became the kings of cup competition football.
Campbell started all three victorious finals: the FA Cup final and League Cup final in 1993, and was one of the proud lions who clinched the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in Copenhagen a year later when with everyone else Campbell stood up with great fortitude and resilience in a team performance that went close to surpassing all others.
In 1995 he moved to Forest and scored nearly a goal every other game; when he was sold to Trabzonspor he provoked a strike by his
The Gooner’s chief feature writer David Fensome pays tribute to the late Kevin Campbell
Forest teammate, van Hooijdonk in protest at the sale: and despite scoring five goals in just 18 appearances he quit Trabzonspor in protest following a racially motivated verbal attack against him by club president.
Campbell had been outspoken about his teammates not being paid by the club, and his comments brought the accusation of ‘cannibal’. Campbell received the gratitude and public support of his teammates and club captain following his departure.
Moving to Everton he became a huge hero on Merseyside, and in time became Everton’s first black captain. He remains uniformly loved at Goodison and the esteem he is held in is perhaps only matched by that at Arsenal.
But it is as a Gooner that Campbell made his most telling contributions, where he formed for a while a trailblazing partnership with Ian Wright and in so doing became a wonderful role
model and example to young people around London – Clinton Morrison has testified to the massively positive effect Campbell had on his own aspirations and subsequent career – such things transcend mere football matters – as did his stand in Turkey.
Campbell was a leader in every sense of the word: a man who could be relied upon; a man who could inspire and match and meet those aspirations both on a football pitch as well as off it.
We are lucky to have shared in his too brief life, but give thanks for his being a part of the Arsenal family: his memory lives on.
The final words are best left to his teammate, skipper and friend, Tony Adams: “Super Kev - a goal machine, a giant of a man with an even bigger heart...[a] truly wonderful human being. I’m devastated for his loved ones and all of us. Love you Super Kev.”
WELCOME BACK TO THE WORLD OF THE HIGHBURY SPY
Sowe’re back and unlike most close seasons, oh boy, has this one dragged.
It felt like we’d been relegated after the Everton game when we did our lap of ‘appreciation’ at The Emirates. I’ve never seen the players look so downhearted and you can understand why. A record number of points and most goals scored since 195253 and we still didn’t win the title. Can we go one better this season?
The Spy is not so sure. I have a horrible feeling we may have peaked. I know we have a young squad with the addition of Ricardo Calafiori, but can Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, William Saliba, Gabriel, Leandro Trossard, Ben White really improve on what they’ve done over the last two campaigns, which would in most seasons without the modern day Manchester City 115, have been enough to garner two league championships?
I have a horrible feeling we’ll be in the top four, but not the top two, but I hope I’m wrong.
Up for the Cup
We desperately need to win a Cup this season, that’s for sure. Five years without a major trophy
will be too much for this wonderfully talented group of players and manager and we just have to win something, anything, this season.
The League Cup would be a good place to start, given we haven’t won it since the 1993 Coca-cola cup and only twice in our history. If we get to a final, we simply have to win it.
Arsenal have lost enough non-FA Cup finals to last all our lifetimes and this year we have to win.
Mind you all may not be lost, as City 115 have their hearing in November, when they face their comeuppance for breaching those 115 charges over what seems like years ago, but we’ll probably have
to wait another five years once the findings become public and City have exhausted all their appeals, so maybe this season won’t be the one where they are deducted 20 points or relegated.
Wouldn’t that be nice though? Mind you knowing our luck, Liverpool will probably finish second to City and get the title and we’ll miss out again.
Pay-Per-View
Did any of you subscribe to the £9.99 offer to watch all of Arsenal’s four pre-season friendlies on Arsenal App PPV in July and August? I did and the service was an absolute disgrace.
Having received confirmation of payment, on the day of the matches, I kept receiving the message ‘You have not subscribed to this fixture. Click here to subscribe’ and this went on well into the first half of all the games.
I logged in and out of the site numerous times and eventually it let me in, but what horrendous service from the club. I missed the first two goals against Leverkusen trying unsuccessfully to log on and to say I was peeved would be an understatement.
I don’t know what happened or if I was unique, but whatever, my opinion of the people running our Arsenal App has reached an all-time low. A refund would be nice but I’m not holding my breath.
So if ever the day comes when you can watch Arsenal league or cup games via PPV on the website App, be afraid, be very afraid. It makes Sky Sports and TNT look amazing by comparison.
Sign him up
Mikel Arteta has not renewed his contract yet. At the time of writing, he has nine months left with no talks or discussions ongoing and nothing being said in the media either.
Very worrying to let it go this late without renewing. Is there something going on that we don’t know about? Has Mikel been tapped up to replace Pep when he leaves City next summer?
Until Mikel signs a new deal the speculation like this will increase and it’s not good for the team or the club.
The way Arsenal has been run this summer is akin to the dark days before the new regime came in with Edu. It feels like we have regressed to 2016, after three summers of amazing business.
What’s going on?
Kitted out
And after the atrocious pre-season App service, a sterile and incomprehensible transfer window so far, we have the new first team kit. It is horrendous. And I mean horrendous.
Why is the Japanese flag on the back of it and why is there so much white? Those blue braces on the back of the white shorts look exactly what they
are. Some financier from the stock market letting his braces down at the end of a long day ripping people off in the city.
Who thought that would be a good look for a Premier League footballer?
Yet again the shirts were all too small. The players are constantly pulling them down to get more length. Good job Kieran Tierney isn’t playing anymore as he definitely wouldn’t be able to tuck this one into his shorts. Back to the drawing board next season Arsenal and Adidas.
The away shirt looks OK but again we have those sparkly grey braces across the back of the shorts. I’m not a fan of Arsenal wearing black and never will be, but it’s novel and pretty unique. I just wish we had a nice yellow shirt with blue shorts and yellow and blue socks like the ‘Ozil’ away kit of 2013-14. I bet 100% of you guys do too.
Finally, before I go, what did we look like in preseason? Well, when I finally got logged into the PPV player, we looked OK against Man United once Rasmus Hojlund and Yoro left the pitch and when they brought their kids on in the second half, but we still couldn’t break them down until Martinelli scored a decent goal against a terrible right back with five minutes to go.
Against Liverpool we were awful. I’m not exaggerating, when I say we could’ve been 4-1 down at half time. It was worrying every time they played a long ball over our defence it split us open every time and Elliott, Carvalho, Jota and Salah had the better of us for the entire first half. The second half was better when they brought their kids on.
We were great against a very poor Leverkusen side and it was clear we improved with Saliba back in the team. Rice looked off the pace and Vieira was as average as ever.
There were very good performances from Ethan Nwaneri and Miles Lewis-Skelly, who look like they could slot into the Premier League seamlessly.
Exciting Ethan
Now ESR has left the building (good luck at Fulham Emile, you deserve first team football) the path is clear for Nwaneri to get some much needed game time.
If you’re good enough you’re old enough as they say. Liam Brady was seventeen when he burst into the Arsenal first team in 1973.
I’d love to see Nwaneri make the same impact as Liam, as he’s good enough and is a once in a generation talent. I just wish he’d smile a bit more…
ANDY WOODMAN: WHEN YOU WORK AT ARSENAL, YOU ARE BLESSED
You could tell it was going to be a special occasion when the merest hint of a rainbow emerged to welcome the nation’s newest league team, following a brief sprinkling of rain in deepest south London on Tuesday evening.
Hayes Lane, Bromley FC was the scene. Where Andy Woodman’s Ravens hosted fellow south Londoners AFC Wimbledon in the first round of the League Cup. It also happened to be their maiden home game as a league side in this welcoming club’s 132-year long history.
Boss Woodman, the highly rated former Arsenal goalkeeping coach, left the north London giants to progress his career as a manager – underling his talent for front foot leadership by steering Bromley to a stellar season, when gaining promotion to the EFL from the National League last term.
Yet for the teak-tough Woodman, never a coach to rest on his laurels, last season’s promotion triumph belongs in the records books, when he said: “We need to move on from that as a club — we need to win football matches, continue to win football matches, that’s my message to the players.”
Speaking after the Ravens’ hard-fought 2-1 home defeat by the only true Dons in English football –Woodman was to avenge the loss a matter of days later, by beating the same team in their first home league game, building on their opening day victory at Harrogate to sit among the pacemakers in the fledgling League Two table – I ask the impressive Woodman if he used his experiences at Arsenal to help inform him as a manager.
“Arsenal was fantastic for me,” the engaging Woodman replies immediately, adding: “The professionalism was one thing. The hard work each and everyone puts in. Hard work is a massive thing at The Arsenal. Everything they do there is top drawer.
“Of course, we haven’t got the riches of Arsenal, or the staff of Arsenal but you can bring the culture that Arsenal have got – which is what I’m trying to do here for this football club, from top to bottom.
“I’m not saying we’re Arsenal by any stretch of the imagination but when you work at a club like Arsenal, you’re blessed – and that’s put me in good stead for what I’m doing now.”
For such a highly-respected figure at The Arsenal, Woodman still keeps in touch with so many familiar faces, all of who have wished him well during his Bromley adventure.
“Everyone has contacted me to be fair,” Woodman says. “It’s been really nice. I’ve had some lovely messages from Arsenal people. I still keep in touch with everyone there.
“Yes, everyone has been really nice – including with praise for what we managed to do here last season, as well as offering their best for this upcoming season.
“You wouldn’t expect anything else really, from such a great club, and such great people at The Arsenal. It’s been great, it really has.”
It’s been well-documented Woodman is close friends with Gareth Southgate and fiercely loyal over his friend. I mention I covered Euro 2024 in Germany including the final, and that I’d be really interested to know what he thought about the criticism Southgate faced.
“I thought we did alright to be honest,” says Woodman. “Everyone wants beautiful ‘Pep Guardiola-style’ football, but I didn’t see too many teams playing that.
“I felt that maybe one or two teams had that sense of flowing football but I think a lot of teams huffed and puffed and cancelled each other out.
Gooner editor and sports journalist Layth paid a visit to Hayes Lane to catch up with the former Head of Goalkeeping at Arsenal, now earning plaudits as acclaimed boss of EFL newboys Bromley FC
“Competition football is so different. Competition football is so hard. To keep winning and progressing in terms of the tournament itself is very hard, let alone to have ‘good’ performances.
“You just have to win. We got to the final. And just fell short.”
Turning back to Bromley, a bullish Woodman, always engaging company, issued a rallying cry: “I’ll let you know if our targets are realistic next May - but there’s no reason why can’t aim for the play-offs. If we go into the season hoping to see what it brings, then it probably won’t bring much.
“So, yes, I am a believer that we should aim for the play-offs. It’s a bit early to start stressing bout things, I think we look good. Of course, we’ll have good days, and bad days – me too, as I’m still learning on the job, which is not a bad thing – and we’re learning quick.”
Ever humble, ever the team man, the busy but modest Woodman takes time out to praise all the unsung heroes at Hayes Lane.
He says: “Everyone behind the scenes has worked tirelessly to get us to this point, from
the chairman, to the CEO, all the people in the offices, all our staff, everyone – the incredible hard work and effort that has gone into this club from everyone to get it to the standard that is required at this level has been immense.
“They don’t get the pats on the back they deserve, so I’d like to hugely thank them for all their hard work.”
Andy Woodman and Layth at Hayes Lane
The Boss, Andy Woodman is fast earning acclaim as Bromley FC manager. CREDIT: @laythy29
HOWES GROWLS AGAIN
Once described in an Arsenal fanzine standfirst as ’shocking’ and ‘extremely young’, Richard Howes is back — and bares his teeth at turncoats wearing the worst half-and-half scarf of them all
Withanother title challenge only in its embryonic stages, I’m still struggling to shake off the last campaign.
I’m not talking about the fact that we won 28 league games, took four points off the eventual champions, ticked countless other boxes, yet still felt miles away.
I’m not referring to the agony of that home defeat to Aston Villa, rendering tough run-in wins at Brighton, Wolves, Spurs, and Manchester Utd, pointless. It’s not even that being prematurely dumped out of every cup competition, putting all our eggs in one withered basket, still wasn’t enough to get us over the line.
So, what has dragged me out of columnist exile faster than Alex Runarsson escaped the Emirates after throwing Riyad Mahrez’s Carabao Cup free-kick into our net four years ago?
Well, lots of you, actually — including (Super) Mikel Arteta.
I thought I’d seen the worst of half-and-half scarf-wearing treachery the season before last when, moments before kick-off against Manchester City, two blokes that looked like they could be Erling Haaland’s much less talented cousins, walked past me behind the Clock End goal, a few seats along from where I watched the eventual 1-3 reverse.
“Loyalty is not something you trade for a quick result"
Richard Howes @richhowes
They looked like they’d spent three weeks before the game in the Armoury; each was dressed in new club clobber, including hats.
Nothing wrong with that (even though I’m not a massive merch buyer, myself) but they’d topped off the look with the most repulsive concept in clothing. Draped around their scrawny necks were freshly woven half-andhalf scarves; even the Arsenal half was poorly coloured and embroidered as though made by striker Eddie Nketiah — close, mate, but just not good enough.
When they didn’t really celebrate Bukayo Saka’s leveller, nor reel when Kevin de Bruyne, Jack Grealish, and Haaland found our net, I thought this was the trough of my experiences with these tragic fabrics.
I thought of all the proper Gooners desperate for tickets who couldn’t get them. I recalled all the vintage Arsenal scarves I remember seeing flapping out of car windows on the way to Highbury in the 1990s, and the people still wearing them somewhere in the stadium.
But then came the Spurs versus City match last May. You remember it: Son Heung-min’s shot; Stefan Ortega’s save. There you were on your sofa, or in The Local, having scrambled to order your very own Arsenal-Spurs half-and-half scarf for the day.
In fact, many of you just went with the straight cockerel cravat. You’re worse than the two cocks from the Clock End. As Son raced clear, many of you were willing him to score. You wanted him to bury it. You didn’t even pretend otherwise. I heard your conversations. I saw your social media posts. I got your WhatsApps.
Great save, Ortega, I thought. It was unimaginable to me that fellow Arsenal fans would abandon their allegiance — even for a night — and get behind our North London rivals. I wouldn’t have had the stomach to whine, “Oh when the Spurs…” “Oh what the ****” you mean.
Ok, I’m not disputing facts: yes, we needed them to take points off City to put our Premier League title destiny back in our hands on the last game of the season.
So, let’s not argue with other truths, either: I loathe Tottenham; they make my soul spew. I despise them more than half-and-half scarves. And the thought of stitching together these two football clubs in any format is despicable to me.
If Son had scored, it would have meant that if Arsenal went on to beat Everton on the last day, the championship would’ve been ours. He didn’t. It wasn’t. Now how do you feel? Was it worth it? I doubt it. What you’ve done, is given Son credit for stopping us winning it. They’re dining out on that miss up the road.
Remember, on 10 occasions during the league season, we had failed to draw or win a match and, while winning a record number of times was impressive, it wasn’t enough. Spurs didn’t stop us winning the league, we did. Or at least City did. Over nine long months.
Some Arsenal fans took to social media even as Son lurched in disappointment, as though we were all Tottenham fans for the evening.
Our manager, Arteta, reportedly said he had his head in his hands in that moment: “I was, to be honest,” he told media. I was appalled. Never have I experienced such disloyalty among a community of people I have grown to love over four decades.
As Layth, The Gooner’s esteemed editor, posted: “Loyalty is not something you trade for a quick result. Nor is swapping a lifelong allegiance a bit of fun.”
I hear plans are afoot to open a third end when Tottenham visit us next January, especially for defectors.
Wear your half-and-half scarves, old friends.
DOUBLE-BARRELLED PROBLEMS
The departure of Emile Smith Rowe was inevitable.
The club may have given him Dennis Bergkamp’s number 10 shirt, he may have been man-of-the-match in the one Premier League game he started last season, and selected for England at youth and senior levels, winning the European U21 Championship last year. But he was fated to leave us.
Not just because he wasn’t getting enough games with us, not because of his injury record, not because the club needed the money. It goes back further than that.
Dig a little deeper. Ainsley Maitland-Niles was an academy player and earned an England cap, but his career in red and white stalled.
Richard Smith @AISA_Arsenal
Richard Smith from AISA’s regular column delving into the thorny issue of double-barrelled names at Arsenal
And Amario Cozier-Duberry was in the England U19 squad last season, yet was sold to Brighton in July.
By now the link should be obvious. What sealed their fate is clear. Their names. For any player sporting a double-barrelled family name, with or without a hyphen, it seems that making it at the Arsenal is a step too far.
I stopped short of asking in the Armoury Arsenal shop if these extended names use up too many letters on replica shirts, and if that might be the reason.
But who can say if the run on the letter X that followed Oxlade-Chamberlain into the first team and England highlighted the problem and hastened his departure to Liverpool.
Insufficient breadth of shoulders may also have exacerbated the issue. Would former Gunner Jeff Reine-Adelaide’s frame have been able to accommodate his name across his back in the existing club font, or would it have necessitated going off-brand, maybe even an expensive redesign?
One way around the problem was tried for Juan Maldonado Jaimez Júnior. His name was shortened on his shirt to Juan, leading to much guffawing and giggling on the terraces as we chanted ‘There’s only One Juan.’ Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for him as a serious ACL injury after just a couple of matches effectively – and prematurely – cut short his promising career.
Players’ names on shirts is a relatively recent phenomenon – at least to supporters of a certain age who remember simpler times and names like Ure and George.
It wasn’t until 1993, for Arsenal’s Wembley appearance in the Coca-Cola League Cup Final against Sheffield Wednesday, that names were actually first worn.
This was repeated at the same venue and against the same opposition a couple of months later in the FA Cup Final.
After that, names became part of the kit requirement for Premier League matches (along with squad numbers – up until then, each match the shirt numbers had been 1-11).
In truth, real supporters probably don’t need the names or numbers. We can recognise our own players, even from the top of the upper tiers. It’s likely to be of most benefit to TV audiences and guests or tourist ticket holders.
Without names, it might mean we don’t recognise some of the away team, but what does that matter? Our concern is the performance of our team against whoever the opposition selects.
For me, my eyes are on the movement and positioning of the players in red and white. I want those in a different coloured kit to contribute nothing to the game, to remain completely anonymous.
‘Was that Haaland playing?’ ‘Didn’t really notice him.’
I must have seen George Best countless times but I don’t think I ever really clocked him during a match, except as a crumpled figure on the Highbury turf courtesy of Arsenal’s iron man, Peter Storey.
Then again, it might not even have been Best. It might have been Law or Kidd. Did I know or care? It was my team I was concentrating on.
And I was largely unaware of Lionel Messi’s presence when Barcelona came to town, except he had an irritating habit of scoring against us. And even then, I was less concerned about the movement of the maestro than the discomfort and finger-pointing involving Koscielny and Silvestre.
None of this resolves the curse today of the double-barrelled name.
Not that Per Mertesacker seems to be aware of it. Just look at this season’s youth squad. We’ve already seen Lewis-Skelly, and waiting for their chance there’s also Norton-Cuffy, QuesadaThorn, Oulad M’Hand and Butler-Oyedeji.
Who knows if they’ll break the curse or follow in the stud-marks of Brandon Rutherford Ormonde-Ottewill (eleven years at the club, 2004-2015, no senior appearances). We wish them all the very best of fortune.
But with Smith Rowe’s departure comes a new problem to be resolved; a replacement for the joyous Rockin’ All Over The World anthem.
Nothing quite scans as well as ‘Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe’. ‘Bukayo Saka and Takahiro Tomiyasu,’ might work. ‘Bukayo Saka and Martin Oh Oh, Oh Ødergaard’? Maybe not.
Emile’s going might have been inevitable, but one way or another, we’re going to miss him!
‘I’m Still Standing’, Richard Smith’s new novel, with vintage jukeboxes, Christmas cracker jokes, environmentalism and Blondie, is available now from bookshops and online.
Diary of the Current Spurs Manager 2024-25
A week in the whimsical chaos of the current Spurs manager as imagined by Alistair Coleman
Monday: Woke with a start from my summer hibernation realising I have less than a week to prepare for our biggest match of the season - the home friendly against Bayern Munich.
The guys who do the end of season video are going to be there and everything, vowing to break the world record for the earliest end of season video, which will be in the shops on highest quality VHS tape ten minutes after the final whistle.
Tuesday: Everyone is running around in circles at the training ground screaming “Harry’s coming, Harry’s coming!” like they’ve seen a particularly memorable grot film starring him of off One Direction.
Turns out it’s some bloke called Kane who I sold as soon as I got here because of the way he buttered toast on both sides in the players’ luxury breakfast bar, so that “If I drop it, it will always land butter side up” and I can’t be doing with that.
Wednesday: To Gaffer’s the secret social club for football managers for the annual pre-season tactical piss-up.
Arteta put his arm round my shoulder and asked what I’m going to do about Harry Kane in this Saturday’s Big One.
While his dog remained clamped to my testicles (“Don’t worry, he always does that to Spurs managers”), he told me the only way to defeat Harry Kane is with more Harry Kanes.
Cross-eyed with agony, but determined not to show any weakness, I agreed and immediately rang every lookalike agency I could find in the Yellow Pages.
Thursday: To Covent Garden Opera House to see the opening performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical adaptation of the hit video “Southport Rioter Is Hit In The Groin With A Brick”, which is called “Southport Rioter Is Hit In
The Groin With A Brick”. It portrays the hopes and anguish of a man getting hit in the groin, with a brick, repeatedly, for two hours (“Even more painful than Wasps: The Musical - I got stang off of them five times” - Evening Standard).
The whole production had been thrown into doubt because the producers had difficulty filling the lead role, but luckily eternally resting actor Laurence Fox stepped up to the plate, insisting that he would do his own stunts. There will be no second performance. I would have felt some sympathy for the lead actor vis-a-vis yesterday’s dog-related ordeal, but one cannot show any sign of weakness.
Friday: The lookalikes have arrived!
Unfortunately, they could only send ten, and one of them was a clown Harry Kane who does cream pies and balloon animals, but claims he was the original’s stunt double during Euro 2024.
Asked how many minutes he played, he replied “all of them”, before bopping me square in the face with a boxing glove on a spring. I’m sticking him straight up front.
Luckily for my foolproof tactical plan, we unearthed a tramp by the name of “Gareth Bale” who has been living in the air conditioning ducts fashioning a papier-mâché Harry Kane mask out of old toilet rolls. It put the fear of Hod into me, so I’m sticking him up front with the other ten Harrys.
Saturday: We lost, but in a sense it was a moral victory in that we had ten more Harry Kanes than they did, even if one was a clown, another looked like he was made out of old toilet rolls, and the other nine came from a pound shop.
A jubilant crowd shouted “This is bollocks” throughout, and they were right, it was THE bollocks, and I’m glad I’ve finally won them over.
Sunday: Woke up with a start. Realised that we were ACTUALLY b*ll*cks and I’ve got a week to get those lookalikes up to scratch otherwise Harry Kane will never win a trophy.
THE WISDOM OF LIAM BRADY AND ALSO STEPHEN HAWKING
The diary of a cursed Gooner
Warning: This column contains multiple references to theoretical physics, most of which I have made up on the spot.
I know a thing or two about being cursed and its relationship to The Beautiful Game, so I know a cursed player when I see one.
Usually they’re defenders or goalkeepers who went down with the ship when their team was relegated, then given a second chance in the top tier by a manager who thinks they’re a “battler”. No, they’re not a battler. They’re cursed. They’re a Jonah. They’ve been relegated once and they’ll relegate you as well. And I’ve been proved right time and again.
So at this point, can I put in a word about Harry Kane? Cursed. You might say that he’s never been relegated, but he’s had worse. He’s been released by Arsenal.
Alistair Coleman @alistaircoleman
Granted, he was nine years old, but Liam Brady must have seen something in him (like Gregory Peck did with the young Damien in The Omen) and let him go to the Spuds, doomed never to win a trophy as long as he darkened their players tunnel.
And you might not know this, but once a curse has been laid, it is virtually impossible to lift, unless you know the right people. And now that Derek Acorah and Father Ted are no longer with us, the right people are mostly the Pope and the other spare Pope.
The curse seeps out of the player, into his colleagues and the very fabric of the football club - the stadium and anyone fool enough to purchase a season ticket.
Even the club mascot is not exempt, hence his change of name from the ludicrous “Chripy”*
to “Cockup”. That curse is staying at the Toilet Seat Stadium in N17 for the foreseeable. Look, I don’t make the rules.
I’ve done a lot of reading on quantum physics recently and I am convinced Harry Kane is trophy-winning anti-matter. He repels trophies.
Harry is, of course, blameless - it’s just the way the universe made him, which as far as my research of a number of David Icke-fronted YouTube videos goes, has never ever won a major trophy in English professional football.
It’s the only explanation, and I am drafting a letter to New Scientist as we speak.
I do not crave recognition, largely because the Cursed Gooner Particle might end up with the club facing some sort of FA disrepute charge, so I have named the newly discovered anti-trophy particle the Redknapp-Wang Quark, after the manager who gave Harry Kane his Spurs debut, and the Munich Weisswurst, which does - really rather unfortunately - look like a wang on a plate.
With the new season upon us, you may be distressed to learn that we have taken out a Sky Sports subscription here at the Cursed Gooner Winter Palace. Long-time readers will know that I can never watch a live Arsenal match on the idiot box without bringing down defeat on the team, so I have vowed - for all your sakes
- never to watch our own games until after the game has finished.
Then I realised “what if the curse knows this is nothing but a delaying tactic, and the very act of observing the game, even on a delay, is enough to spoil your weekends?”
This is very much the thinking behind the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle and the infamous Scrödinger’s Cat experiment into the duality of Arsenal (the Good Arsenal wave vs the Crap Arsenal particle) - my very act of observing the Arsenal causes the field to collapse with disastrous consequences. Stephen Hawking knew, you just have to read his A Brief History Of That Time Where Spurs Were Total Pish to understand.
All is not lost - I know someone who works at one of the big particle physics labs near Oxford, so I’ll see if they can make some sort of arrangement with the Large Hadron Collider which will ensure the Good Arsenal wave dominates this season.
Nobody knows what the LHC does anyway, but we’re going to use it to create a universe where Man City are shite again.
*Who ever heard a cockerel going “chirp”? At least Gunnersaurus is a scientifically-proven example of what a dinosaur could have evolved into, had the planet not been hit by a meteor
DIAL HAVE PLENTY IN THEIR ARSENAL
DIAL SQUARE F.C. have kicked off their 2024-25 MJM Sports Surrey Premier County Football League campaign in their quest to gain entry to the National League System in 2025.
The north-west Surrey club reached another historical milestone in June by being the first football club since Yorkshire side Shaw Lane (now defunct) in 2015 to gain three consecutive promotions in their first three full seasons.
The fan-owned non-League club, which draws its inspiration from the forefathers of Arsenal in 1886, scored 109 league goals in just 26 Surrey County Intermediate League (Western) Premier Division games last season. And Dial are expected to be one of the favourites again to make it an unprecedented four promotions on the spin.
However, Steve Brown’s side, who kicked off their step 7 campaign against Cranleigh on Saturday, August 24, are expected to face some strong opposition from Wimbledon Casuals, who won the league the past two seasons but did not apply to gain promotion, along with newly promoted Banstead Rovers and last season’s runners-up, Worcester Park, who also won the league in 2022.
Town to extend their stay at Alwyns Lane until, potentially, May 2027.
Speaking to The Gooner regarding the club’s meteoric rise through the lower leagues, Tony Hurley, Chairman of Dial Square and avid Arsenal supporter, said: “Since taking over the club in May 2023, it’s been an incredible journey. The support that I, along with the rest of the football committee, have received from fans; both in the UK and aboard, has exceeded my expectation.
To support Dial’s mission, they secured a new three-year ground-share with Southern Football League Premier Division side Chertsey
“The club’s double-winning achievements last season are enshrined in history and should never be underestimated. However, a new league will bring a new set of challenges, so you can never rest on your laurels.
“There are always things that you need to fine-tune at whatever level of sport you’re playing at, you just have to have a plan and stick to it, and take people on the journey with you,” he added.
In-keeping with their ambition, Dial released 440,000 shares in July 2024, which prompted a groundswell of support from fans wanting to own or increase their stakeholding in the club.
For more news and information on The Dial, including the club’s 2024 share purchase opportunity (which closes on August 31, 2024), go to www.dialsquarefc.com.
Gold Subscribers’ Hall of Fame
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Super Sub: Frank Stubbs
How did you become an Arsenal supporter?
Mine is a traditional story really. I was born in Muswell Hill and my dad is Arsenal mad, his first game being v Bedford Town in the FA Cup in 1955. So, it was the Arsenal or nobody. Dad is now in his late 70s and still sits next to me to this day.
What does being an Arsenal supporter mean to you?
Tradition and total class. Always proud to wear that badge on my chest. We lead and others follow. The list regarding that fact is remarkable.
First game:
Arsenal v Leeds in January 1977. A 1 all draw but more than anything I remember walking into the West Stand Lower at Highbury for the first time. The sight, the sound, the smell, it all lives with you forever. And the packed lunch in a brown paper bag that my nan had given me of course.
Best game and why?
Very difficult question that as I have favourite games for different reasons. They range from the standard Anfield 89, Old Trafford 02, White Hart Lane 04 to each of our cup final wins to weird examples like Bolton away in March 2008. 2 nil down at half time, down to ten men and our own fans coming to blows with one another in the concourse. Cesc’s late winner caused absolute carnage. Just crazy.
Worst game and why?
Each issue we put the spotlight on a Gooner subscriber and loyal Arsenal supporter.
not always consistently, did things on a football pitch I have never seen any other player even try, let alone accomplish. He is probably the only player I’ve ever had the fortune to meet and I was in total awe of the bloke. In fact I was a shaking mess!
Worst player and why?
Sorry, I hate that question! As I don’t believe anybody who plays for the Arsenal can be that ‘bad’. Everyone of a certain age remembers Gus Caesar and his mad 10 minutes at the end of the Luton final in 88. Gus was a promising youngster with every chance to go on and be a top player but he never really recovered from that day.
In relatively recent years I had the chance to ask him how he felt at the time and he responded by saying, “I wasn’t that bothered, it was just another game”.
Not only did I realise he had no idea what us supporters go through with that response, I also believe that kind of attitude is why he never went on to achieve the kind of successes his team mates did over the following years.
Favourite trip?
I was very proud and ridiculously emotional in Paris in 2006. But it still goes down as the most ‘gutted’ I’ve ever felt after a match. Luton in the 1988 League Cup Final is up there too.
Best player and why?
Again a difficult question. Wrighty was the best finisher I’ve ever seen. TA the best leader and captain. Thierry was the best all round player I have ever had the privilege to witness. But Dennis, whilst
I went to Austria pre-season for every 1 of the 10 years we went and I have to say I genuinely miss those trips more than any other I’ve done with the Arsenal. Pre-season in general is a fantastic experience and has enabled me to see the world whilst following my passion.
See issue 308 for part two of Stubbsy’s Star Sub Q&A including his memorable trip to America this summer, for more reasons than one. In the meantime, you can find his brilliant work at www. stubbsytours.wordpress.com
ARSENAL SUPPORTERS’ TRUST
Ownership, Representation, Influence
For just £20 annually, you can be a voice in making Arsenal a stronger club with true custodian values.
You can attend meetings with guests including representatives from the club, football experts and leading journalists. You’ll get the latest news on all supporters issues at Arsenal and a full overview on club finances.
The most important poart? You’ll be a voice that is actually heard by the club. Our surveys, meetings and feedback forms give you a direct input to the Fans’ Forum and Advisory Board.
The proof is in what we have already done:
Helping to stop the European ‘Super League’
Securing Government support for independent regulation of English Football. Safe-standing to be introduced at the Emirates Stadium for match-going fans, including facilities and atmosphere.
More than £45,000 raised for the Arsenal Foundation and Islington charities.
And we won’t stop there. Be a part of the club and its future. Be more than a fan.
To join the AST from £20 a year, go to: www.arsenaltrust.org/join
