THE GOONER FANZINE: GIVING A VOICE TO ARSENAL SUPPORTERS SINCE 1987 INFORMED | INTELLIGENT | IRREVERENT
| NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2024 | £5
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Layth’s TAKE
Hello, and welcome to issue 308 of the Gooner Fanzine.
It’s been a hectic time following The Arsenal recently, with a tough trip up the wrong end of the Seven Sisters Road, a wonderful few days in welcoming Bergamo with a few of the passionate Italian Gooners, not to mention the 2-2 draw with ten men at City, as well as taking pride in a number of our talented youngsters emerge during the 5-1 rout of Bolton Wanderers. And that’s without mentioning the majestic 2-0 stroll against PSG or the two home victories against Leicester and Southampton respectively.
If there has been a pattern emerging it’s that we have to be careful in not giving officials and VAR any sniff of trouble that can lead to damaging yellow and red cards. That and the fact I still think we need a centre-forward, a ruthless striker who’ll grab 25 goals a season. Mind you, doesn’t everyone.
A quick shout out to the brilliant AISA, and Richard Smith in particular, who does such a sterling job helping out at the Arsenal Foodbank on matchdays at the Emirates. If you can donate, please consider doing so.
While we’re on the subject of AISA, have you thought about joining them? They’re brilliant. As a fully-paid up member of both ASIA and AST I heartily recommend signing up to both.
A massive thank you as ever to each, and every single person on our brilliant team for getting this issue over the line. I am so proud of everyone in our squad here at the Gooner Fanzine, there are no egos, just team players who care passionately about our humble labour of love.
I’d also like to say thank you to our loyal readers and subscribers near and far, without whose humbling support we simply wouldn’t exist. One of the joys over the last few seasons has been when I stand on street corners in various parts of Islington on matchdays and try and flog the Gooner to passers-by. Those who know what we’re about invariably come and say hello, and stop for a chat, which I absolutely love. So, thank you for your support, your good humour, your passion, and for making me smile, even in the rain…
I also have to say a massive thanks to our brilliant team of contributors including Charles Watts, Annabel Rackham, Charlie Ashmore, Steve Ashford aka Highbury Spy, Mike McDonald aka Coach Mike, Mike Slaughter aka Mickey Cannon, Steve Pye aka That 1980s Blog, Simon Rose, Paul Brooker aka Countryman, Richard Smith, Freddy Cardy, Stephen Pavelin aka Highbury Librarian, Peter Le Beau, Richard Howes, David Fensome, Danny Simmonds, Nick Callow with Paul Davis, Chris Howard, Ian Jenkinson, Henry Waddon, Alistair Coleman, Frank Stubbs, and Ruth Beck, as well as our production genius Serge Braga-Mullin.
Lastly I’d like to thank my wonderful partner Faye, who puts up with my unbridled and slightly unhinged passion for The Arsenal, and but without whose understanding and help I simply couldn’t run the Gooner Fanzine.
Come on you Gunners
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LETTER FROM BERGAMO
Layth Yousif @laythy29
The Champions League is the passionate point of discussion in a late-night bar high up in Bergamo’s old town, or Citta Alta.
Walking uphill on cobbles lit by moonlight, through the imposing honey-coloured Porto San Giacomo, an evocative medieval gate set alongside sturdy World Heritage-listed Venetian stone walls, you eventually reach a welcoming Irish bar, set on a bend.
Inside the busting Tucans Pub – Italian for toucan - are loyal Arsenal supporters, still buzzing from the weekend’s stirring triumph in the North London derby.
Among the number is the engaging Matteo Scarpellini. The Champions League draw was a dream come true for Teo, as everyone calls the popular Italian.
For the clash between Atalanta and Arsenal also represents a match-up between two clubs close to his heart. Because Teo, a proud native of Bergamo, supports Atalanta. And The Arsenal.
“I couldn’t believe it, when it happened,” Teo recounts over his pint of Guinness. “All my life I have been waiting for such a thing. I was dancing round my television, swearing with happiness when they made the draw.”
Teo, who has been attending Atalanta matches at the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia since the 1980s, also started supporting Arsenal during the George Graham era, when the Gunners lifted the 1987 Littlewoods Cup final.
“And when Arsenal won the league at Anfield in 1989, I was hooked," said Teo, with a relish all true believers would only understand.
“As a kid, I’d always think of Arsenal to play Atalanta, [but] never in my imagination did I believe it would happen."
As the years passed, friendships formed between Teo and North London natives, forged during riotous trips to Arsenal’s long-lost summer training camps in Austria and northern Italy during the early Arsene Wenger era, now repurposed by the club’s recent blockbuster tours to New York and Los Angeles.
“Supporting Arsenal is like a family, the sociable side is important,” Teo insists, as those around the table nod in agreement. “They were happy times.”
So much so, that a number of Teo’s Arsenal friends would make an annual pilgrimage to Bergamo to catch up with Teo, during the AGM of the Italian Gooners’ group.
Teo, well-known and well-respected in Arsenal and Atalanta circles, planned to watch the first half of the game among his many friends in home end at the now more prosaically-labelled Gewiss Stadium – named after a prominent Italian electrotechnical company – before hoping to enter the away section for the second half.
“It would be my dream,” before adding emphatically: “Atalanta and Arsenal are the clubs of my life, and my heart.” As the conversation continues, I joke Teo will have to wear one of those infernal half-and-half scarves at the match. Turning momentarily serious, Teo asserts: “I hate those things. They’re horrible.”
Teo also confides his Atalanta pre-match routine occasionally involves a visit to the nearby neoclassical mansion, Accademia Carrara.
Matteo 'Teo' Scarpelli with Gooner pals at the Tucan Pub
Specifically, to view the striking white stone marble sculpture Andromeda. “I like to go there sometimes before home matches for calm. It is a beautiful place,” he shares.
Struck by this intriguing admission, I too make a point of visiting such a haven of tranquillity. Amid the collection’s Canaletto’s and Raffaello’s I find Pietro Bernini’s Andromeda, and lose myself momentarily in its haunting beauty.
The serenity certainly helped as we listened to Mikel Arteta’s pre-match media conference at the revamped Gewiss, with the Arsenal boss revealing captain Martin Odegaard had picked up a ‘significant’ ligament injury.
The stadium’s impressive – and thankfully listed - neoclassical façade, alas, provided no balm after Arteta’s admission, as the realisation dawned the Gunners will miss a vitally important player during such a crucial spell.
However, late-night drinking sessions in the yellow-walled Tucans Pub among sporting obsessives certainly helped in dulling the blow of Odegaard’s absence.
A convivial father and son from north London, drinking pints of Guinness, gleefully recounted leaving the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after the celebrations had died down at the final whistle last Sunday before heading straight to the airport, and a cheap flight to Milan Bergamo Airport.
Talk turned serious for a moment. Unsurprisingly, in a city where thousands lost their lives in the dreadful epicentre of the first wave of coronavirus, the sense of importance in civic pride and the concept of community is imbued in dignified Teo, and in Bergamo itself. “It was a terrible time for everyone,” he says.
Outside, the bright moon shines down on Citta Alta, illuminating Bergamo’s stunning upper town, situated in the foothills of those mesmerising Alps.
Inside, the barman, a friend of Teo - as is everyone who meets such a force of nature, all absolutely delighted for such an affable character relishing in his own personal nirvana - apologises for having to eventually close the bar, as the evening segues into the early hours.
As thoughts turn to the game once again, pint in hand, Teo, who will start work in a few short hours, says, in joy as much as wonder at the prospect of the two teams of his life meeting: “I can’t lose, can I? I am so happy.” ......
This article first appeared in the Irish Examiner newspaper and is published with their kind permission
Atalanta's pre-match Tifo display
Statues on the neo-classical facade at the Gewiss Stadium
Gooner Social
THE DARK ARTS
Poor old Manchester City eh? Those plucky underdogs who had to put up with mean old Arsenal refusing to roll over for them and have their tummies tickled at the Etihad.
I mean, how dare Arsenal. The gall of it.
On the back of three extremely tough away games in seven days, one of which included a trip to Italy, Mikel Arteta’s side really should have just waved the white flag and let City do what they wanted after going down to 10 men at the end of the first half.
But oh no, instead they actually put up a fight. They played things a little dirty at times and got themselves a thoroughly deserved point.
That can’t be right, can it? That’s not the Arsenal that the other top clubs in England have grown accustomed to over the past 20 years or so. The team that has a soft underbelly, that is too naive and lacks any leaders.
No wonder Manchester City were complaining afterwards. Clearly, that wasn’t how they expected things to go. Not City, not the club that has grown used to having things go their way...
In all seriousness, how utterly ridiculous was the fall-out from the 2-2 draw at the Etihad? Talk about pathetic. The final whistle had barely gone and there was already a queue of City players waiting to go through the mixed zone to air their complaints. If it wasn’t Bernardo Silva it was John Stones or Manuel Akanji.
Dark arts this, dark arts that. Oh just s*d off would you, please!
But the most ridiculous thing was just how easily City managed to take control of the narrative after the game.
Charles Watts @charles_watts
There was barely any talk about how good Arsenal were, or credit for a quite magnificent defensive performance a man down.
Oh no, all we heard for the next few days across all forms of the media were complaints about how Arsenal are ‘pushing the boundaries’ of fairness. I mean, Sky Sports even did a detailed analysis of Arsenal’s time wasting. It was just mental.
It was a classic example of how to spin things your way and almost everyone fell into the trap. The good thing is though, Mikel Arteta won’t have fallen for it and neither will his players.
They would have just stored it all away in the back of their minds for the fixture in February at the Emirates. What a night that is going to be, by the way.
And let’s face it, City’s complaints were about one thing anyway. It wasn’t ‘dark arts’ or anything like that, it was simply because they knew that Arsenal had got one over them.
They lost their heads. Arsenal stood up to them and they didn’t like it one little bit.
Just take a look at Erling Haaland afterwards. Telling Arteta to ‘stay humble’ after he had just chucked the ball at Gabriel’s head from behind and then squared up to a 17-year-old child. It was hilarious.
I was gutted when that equaliser went in, but it didn't take me long to get over it. Because all that game did was reaffirm my belief that this Arsenal team is ready to do something special.
I was sure of it before that game and I’m even more sure of it now.
This is a team that won’t be bullied any more.
Gooner columnist and renowned Arsenal journalist Charles Watts analyses the fallout from Arsenal's magnificent performance at Manchester City and scoffs at the ridiculous 'Dark Arts' nonsense aimed at his beloved Gunners
They will stand up for themselves and their team-mates. That was summed up perfectly when the young Myles Lewis-Skelly got in the face of Haaland at the end. I mean, just how good was that??
Haaland might not have known who he was then, but I bet he does now.
The best thing about this Arsenal team is that they can play in so many ways. They can do the rearguard action that we saw at City, but then they can attack and pull teams apart, as was shown a week later when they amassed a staggering 37 shots against Leicester.
They deserve far more credit than they are getting right now. But to be honest, who cares?
I just want to see them continue to do what they are doing.
Playing their way, and if that winds everyone else up, it doesn’t matter in the slightest.
What was it George Graham said? “It’s fine that people hate us.” Wise words, wise words indeed. Up the Arsenal!
I was gutted when that equaliser went in, but it didn't take me long to get over it. Because all that game did was reaffirm my belief that this Arsenal team is ready to do something special
GRIT & RESILIENCE
Gooner columnist Annabel Rackham says to forget the moaning Arsenal-haters - it’s all about results
Our game against Manchester City came at such an intense point in the footballing schedule that it was hard to contextualise the result at the final whistle, beyond just feeling relief and a tiny pang of disappointment for not taking home all three points.
It marked the end of a gruelling week midSeptember week, after a scrappy but incredibly satisfying win at Tottenham Hotspur and a Champions League group stage game away at Atalanta, in which we fought for a well-earned draw and marvelled at an incredible double penalty save from David Raya.
A lot of the pre-match commentary was about how Arsenal needed to win at the Etihad to be title contenders.
This was also touted at the end of last season, when we were lambasted by some in the media for going away to the best team in the world and setting up to take a point.
It’s just another refereeing decision that doesn’t make much sense but the reaction to what Arsenal did in the second half was something I certainly couldn’t understand
Annabel Rackham @annabellimor
We essentially gave the pundits what they wanted this time around – a real game of football. After a shaky few minutes in which we conceded to an excellent Erling Haaland goal, we came out as the team on top in the first half by scoring twice.
Brilliant finishes from Riccardo Calafiori and Gabriel Magalhães sent Arsenal fans into ecstasy, up until the eighth minute of extra time in the first half.
This was when Leandro Trossard was sent off for a second yellow card offence. Whether it was deserved or not was a debate that divided many and since his sending off for kicking the ball away, this has happened countless times in the Premier League and has gone unpunished.
It’s just another refereeing decision that doesn’t make much sense but the reaction to what Arsenal did in the second half was something I certainly couldn’t understand.
The team decided to channel their inner Stoke City and defend the 18-yard box for the whole half. They faced 24 shots, with seven on target but were able to neutralise any real attacking threat.
Everything went through City’s defenders –with Ruben Dias and Manuel Akanji desperately trying to sling in crosses for what felt like hours.
The clock ticked away and it looked like Arsenal might clinch a win that would be talked about for years to come, but instead succumbed to a heartbreaking last-minute equaliser from John Stones.
Ironically, we probably would have all taken a point before the game, but seeing the way it played out was nothing short of heart-breaking.
Yet after playing so heroically for the whole second half, the negative comments began to pour in.
Arsenal were accused of absolutely everything – from not being brave enough to what has now become an almost infamous phrase – using the dark arts.
This came from Manchester City players John Stones and Bernardo Silva, with the former accusing Arsenal of taking a “clever or dirty” approach to the game.
Bernardo chimed in post-match to say “only one team came to play football” and accused the Gunners of “time-wasting”.
To expect the team to continue to play open, attacking football after going a man down was fanciful. When Liverpool tried this back in the 2017-2018 season at the Etihad, the home side ended up winning 5-0.
Just a week on from our draw at City this season, Manchester United lost Bruno Fernandes against Spurs after his tackle was deemed a red card offence, also just before half time.
They came out in the second half and tried to attack and subsequently lost the game 3-0, conceding twice with 10 men on the pitch.
The messaging from the club since the draw has I think been the right one - that we are here to get a result at any cost.
After playing every couple of days for the last few weeks, including against some of the top teams in Europe, we have produced some exceptional team performances.
This has been while missing some of our top players, such as Martin Odegaard and new signing Mikel Merino.
Common sense should prevail in the discourse around the team, but sadly in many instances the club has been criticised for playing defensive football at times, rather than always having a free-flowing attack.
Bukayo Saka said it best after the impressive 2-0 win over PSG in the Champions League at the start of October. “It’s all about results. Different games have different contexts – we have to do whatever it takes to win,” he said.
That is spot on – to win the biggest prizes both domestically and in Europe we have to show many faces.
We have to be able to both accelerate and slow down play when it suits us, sit in a low block and soak up pressure when the game feels like it’s going against us and play freeflowing one-touch football.
This is how top teams play and after several disappointing years it’s something we all have to get used to, even if it doesn’t feel entirely natural at times.
ONE OF OUR STATUES IS
Charlie Ashmore @GoonerFanzine
Everyone reading this will know that the home stadium is adorned with statues and busts of six people who have contributed to our illustrious history.
Three are players – Tony Adams, Denis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry. Nobody would question the place these three hold in the pantheon of Arsenal greats.
Ken Friar is unique, in being neither a player nor a manager, but so wrapped up in our post war history is he, nobody can seriously question his right to be so lauded.
That leaves two others – Herbert Chapman and Arsene Wenger. Unarguably the two greatest managers in our history. They delivered success while changing football in this country in ways possibly no other managers have ever done.
But is there another man who deserves a statue at the stadium?
Bertie Mee has a shout given what he delivered, but for me there is one man who stands head and shoulders above any other candidate for the honour.
I for one think it is about time the club recognised this and took steps to add his likeness to the roll call around the stadium.
To who am I referring? Well, there is but one man who would feature in both a top 50 list of greatest Arsenal players and a top three list of greatest ever Arsenal managers.
I refer of course to the one and only George Graham.
the Emirates
Let me deal first of all with the expected objections to my plan.
Yes, he left the club under a cloud but without getting bogged down in the detail there are plenty who felt at the time that he was made a scapegoat and his naïve admission of receiving "unsolicited gifts" enabled football to brush under the carpet the belief there was a widespread practice of managers taking back-handers by throwing the book at him and saying it had cleaned its own house up.
The second objection I anticipate is he accepted the manager's job at Tottenham, and doing so should prevent him from being honoured by the club ever again.
I don't accept that – he didn't actively seek to leave Arsenal (Ashley Cole anyone?). He was pushed out. What was he supposed to do? He had to earn a living and at the time he was offered the Tottenham job, it was the best option available to him.
I say neither of these matters should override his contribution to Arsenal's history and uniquely it is a contribution he made as both player and a manager. He was involved in most of the great moments of Arsenal's post war twentieth century history.
For starters, the Fairs Cup win against Anderlecht in 1970, on a night those who were there still talk about as Highbury's greatest evening.
A year later, he won the league title at White Hart Lane in 1971, which is certainly in our top three historical moments. A few days
Charlie Ashmore passionately articulates just why George Graham should be given a statue at
later there was the double-sealing FA Cup win in the Merry Month of May ’71.
George may even have scored though it's a matter of dispute, and overshadowed by Charlie George's winner and celebration.
Then, as manager, he oversaw victories at White Hart Lane in the spring of 1987, culminating in the League Cup semi-final replay win, which was astonishing, and remains one of my most cherished memories of 40 years of watching Arsenal.
Victories over our bitter rivals that spring led to Wembley 1987 and our first trophy in eight years, beating the dominant Liverpool side of that era to lift the Littlewood Cup.
Then, of course, there was George’s crowning moment, Anfield 1989.
The greatest night in our history and possibly in the entirety of league football in England – masterminded by Graham, who predicted exactly how it would unfold in his team talk.
Let’s not forget the near invincibles of 1991 – a league triumph against the odds despite two points deducted by the FA. While the Double Cup win of 1993 meant Arsenal became the first team to achieve this feat.
And that’s without mentioning Copenhagen 1994, another astonishing win by a weakened team against a superb opponent in Parma.
Also, let's not overlook the fact his defence was the foundation on which Wenger's successes were built.
I defy you to read that list and not feel awe at what he achieved with the club. Remember the state we were in when, having first helped the club to European success and a Double as a player, he took over as manager.
Bar the cup years of 1978-80 under Terry Neill we had become serial underachievers.
It took his single-minded vision and a lot of hard work to take us from there to league winners, competing against and beating a ferocious Liverpool team.
George made us feel proud of our club again. He built a squad of players who wanted nothing more than to play for each other and for the Arsenal.
He made Arsenal, the club he loved (famously having the Arsenal cannon embedded in his patio tiles) respected again.
It Is time the Club showed him the respect he deserves. Indeed, it is way beyond time.
WELCOME BACK TO THE WORLD OF THE HIGHBURY SPY
TheLeicester City game was what you go to football for. Sunny afternoon, expectant crowd, the Emirates looking splendid with flags and scarves. North London Forever ringing out... it was simply wonderful.
And what a match it was. Suffice to say we clawed back the two points we lost in the 98th minute at City the week before.
The Arsenal managed to turn a comfortable 2-0 lead into a nerve jangling, hand trembling, 'will we, or won’t we' siege on the Leicester goal, after conceding twice to bring the Foxes back into it.
Their keeper Mads Hermansen (remember the name) must’ve made six world class saves from various Gunners shots and headers.
We missed at least as many chances as well before the magnificent Leandro Trossard found the net in the 94th minute, via a deflection off Leicester's unfortunate Wilfred Ndidi.
Heartbreaking for them, but elation for us. I was in the East Stand Upper towards the Clock End, so didn’t have the greatest view, but when I saw the North
Bank fans erupt in ecstasy, I knew we must’ve scored and I slumped forward, drained, in relief and sheer happiness knowing we hadn’t blown yet another two points at home.
It was the first time ever, I’ve not jumped up when Arsenal hit a late injury time winner, I just collapsed with sheer relief. I didn’t have a clue who got the last touch or how, but I don’t think I have ever been more pleased to see Arsenal score (apart from that goal against Bournemouth).
Contrast that to the week before, when 115FC equalised in the 98th minute.
Manchester City 2-2 Arsenal
Where do we start with this game?
Strangely, I felt numb when their second goal went in. Almost like we had achieved a miracle to keep them out with ten men for the previous 53 minutes, and after dreading and expecting a 115FC goal for all that time, when it finally arrived with the last kick of the game, rather than rue two lost points, I just thought “thank f*ck they didn’t score that ten minutes earlier”.
I would’ve taken a point all day long when Leo got sent off, so in the end, a point wasn’t so bad.
Every single Arsenal player was magnificent.
Eleven out of ten for each one of them. Every player knew which way to show the City players when they had the ball, so they were always ushered onto their weaker foot. That doesn’t come by accident.
Mikel Arteta must’ve spent ages drilling the players about Jeremy Doku, Ruben Dias, Savinho, Bernardo Silva, Ilkay Gundogan and the rest, and which was
their good foot, and every Arsenal man remembered to perfection.
Brilliant Timber
When Jurrien Timber went off with cramp ten minutes from the end at City, and they brought on Jack Grealish, they began to get a bit of joy down our right flank. Sure enough, the goal came from the acres of space we left them after a corner kick. I swear up and down that had Timber stayed on for the full 98 minutes, we would’ve won.
How brilliant is Timber? He takes defending and attacking at pace to another level and it’s brilliant that he and Ben White can now share the right back position during the gruelling 60 games plus we’ll have to play this season.
I reckon we would’ve won the Premier League last season had we had a fit Jurrien. He’s like having two players in one.
Bravo Riccardo
Riccardo Calafiori too. He looks like he was born to play for Arsenal and every time I see him, I pinch myself, as I can’t believe he’s with us and not with City, Liverpool, Manchester United or heaven forbid Chelsea, because they all wanted him.
Provided he stays fit, I think we have left back covered, and Myles Lewis-Kelly is an able deputy if the Italian needs a rest.
I’m not counting on Takehiro Tomiyasu or Alex Zinchenko any time soon as these latest injuries have made me lose it with them. Unfortunate, and sad for them, but they are hardly ever available. Sell them at the first opportunity we get. I’d rather have Kieran Tierney back.
I thought we were very fortunate against Leicester, when Calafiori didn’t get a second booking for a blatant trip on a rampaging Foxes player halfway through the second half.
A lot of refs would’ve played it by the book and given him a second yellow and a red, but I think he remembered how unfortunate we’d been with the two previous red cards received by Declan Rice and Trossard and took pity on us, fearing a terrace rebellion if he’d sent the Italian off.
So maybe, just maybe, what comes around goes around after all.
Criminal
I couldn't believe that not one pundit saw fit to say that Declan or Leo were unlucky to be sent off for ‘delaying the restart’, which they undoubtedly were.
The Rice sending off against Brighton was criminal.
He barely touched the ball whilst getting whacked from behind by a vicious Brighton defender, which naturally went unpunished.
But what did Danny ‘I Hate Arsenal’ Murphy say on MOTD that evening? “The referee had no choice. Red card all day long”. In your tiny Liverpool infested mind only, Danny.
I’ll tell you now, you won’t see another player sent off all season for kicking the ball away two inches after a free kick has been awarded. And where did they get ‘he kicked it a few yards’ from? Inches maybe.
Another example of the media twisting and inventing the narrative to suit their anti-Arsenal agenda. I thought it was our free kick anyway, which they all conveniently ignored! Go to hell Kavanagh. Another Arsenal hater.
What did they expect us to do at City? Try and take them on, end to end with ten men and lose 5-0 like we did in 2021? Or 3-1 in 2020? Or 2-1 in 2022?
Funny how we seem to get a man sent off virtually every time we play them, but they are whiter than white every match?
I’ll tell you now, you won’t see another player sent off all season for kicking the ball away two inches after a free kick has been awarded
Michael Oliver
And why do we get Michael Oliver as referee every time we play them?
This man's bias towards City 115 knows no bounds. I won't elaborate here as you all know, but funny how he "didn't want to spoil the game" last season when Mateo Kovacic took Martin Odegaard's legs away when already on a booking, but couldn't wait to send Trossard off for a minor indiscretion this time, thus ruining the game.
Dark Arts FC
I couldn’t believe the negative comments towards Arsenal and Mikel, in particular from the TV and radio pundits and the media, after our heroic defensive performance at City.
Rather than risk a certain defeat, Mikel decided to put everyone behind the ball, and it was magnificent.
To hear the likes of Roy Keane and Graeme Souness accuse us of ‘dark arts’ and call us ‘cowards’ and ‘they expected more’ just shows how much they truly hate us.
Mind you, what do you expect from a couple of selfproclaimed Spurs fans?
I’ll tell you what they expected though. A stupid and gullible Arsenal to play gung-ho and lose 4-2 so they could say we still haven’t learned how to win ugly, and we still have a ‘soft underbelly’, and we still haven’t replaced Patrick Vieira adequately.
Pull the other one, yawn, yawn. How they hate it, now we are a real threat to the status quo.
And why do City players get away Scot free without any criticism for their constant whinging and moaning to the referee and debating every single decision given to Arsenal?
Rodri tried to get Kai Havertz red carded in the first minute. Walker spent the entire match in Michael Oliver’s face.
Rodri was screaming for a penalty even when he went down on his own after his ACL went. Bernardo Silva even had the cheek to say we weren’t proper rivals like Liverpool, because they always went toe to toe with City.
Yeah, I’m sure they did and how many times did they win at the Emptihad, let alone with ten men?
They use every trick in the book and Mikel was dead right when he said that “I know, I spent four years there”.
Even then, the hugely Northern biased media have tried to turn that into a reason to turn the intense rivalry into a ‘war’.
At the end of the game, that plastic alien freak Haaland threw the ball at Gabriel’s head and told Mikel to “stay humble” whilst telling Jesus to “shut up you clown” when he defended the boss.
My God, we’ve got under their skin, haven’t we?
I’m so looking forward to the return match at the Emirates or any cup ties in-between, because we are going to spank them big time sooner or later and it’s going to be so, so enjoyable ramming the alien’s words right back down his rubber throat, or whatever alien speak is for throat!
Anti-Arsenal bias
We need to use this anti-Arsenal bias and blatant Arsenal hate like we did in 1991 when we were deducted two points after Man U started the so-called ‘Battle of Old Trafford’ when they didn’t like it because we were winning 1-0 on their patch.
It was clear George Graham instilled an ‘us against the world’ mentality after that points deduction and we only lost one match that season and went on to win the title with a week to spare.
“You can stick your f*cking two points, stick your f*cking two points, stick your f*cking two points up
your arse”. The greatest Arsenal song of all time and sung with gusto at every match and of course the league title celebration.
We are The Arsenal!
Ethan Nwaneri: Generational Talent
And finally, I can’t leave without saying a few words about Ethan Nwaneri, the name on everyone’s lips at the moment.
This is the kind of talent that only comes along once in a generation. Liam Brady, Cesc Fabregas, Jack Wilshere (without the injuries) and Bukayo Saka to name but a few.
Believe me, Nwaneri is up there with them. When he came on against Leicester, he nearly scored within a minute, after a lovely run and shot. And then some amazing trickery in the area to set up another scoring chance. He has it all.
There is absolutely no reason whatsoever, this boy cannot go on and reach the same heights as Cole Palmer within a year or so.
I’m no fan of international football as you know, but it won’t be long before Nwaneri and Palmer are in the same England team. The mind boggles.
TACTICAL BREAKDOWN
coach mike’s tactics
Why were Arsenal so successful against City? A tactical breakdown by the Gooner's resident expert
Alarge distraction sadly shifted the discussion around the City game from how Arsenal were so successful at frustrating arguably the world’s best club team, to incessant talk about referees, dark arts and the eventual scoreline.
Such a shame.
The more interesting discussion will be talked about at coaching symposiums for years. It was a product of years of work in growing a team from chapter one of the coaching book. Instilling such a high level of organization and automatisms as well as full respect for their coach’s instructions.
Then a strategy so good it not only worked for 56 minutes but it brought huge levels of envy in pundits and other fanbases they tried to disguise as ridicule.
So, what specifically did Arteta do?
Did you notice our players were reluctant to engage in tackling? As fans, we want the ball. We want our players to get ‘stuck in.’ Tactically and in the modern game, it’s vital you only attempt to tackle at the right time.
One bad lunge and the whole defensive organization crumbles as another player must step forward and the unit has to shift leaving someone wide open.
If Kevin De Bruyne or Rodri were playing, then our strategy could’ve changed, as they excel in shooting from 25 yards, but as they weren’t, we took advantage and allowed Ruben Dias and others to try their luck.
Finally, if you attempt a tackle right on the edge of the box you risk giving away a penalty
or a free kick, which negates your defensive organization. When you are 10v11 you must sacrifice something. Arteta chose to sacrifice defending shots 22 yards and further out.
There was a secondary, but lesser sacrifice, in that we preferred to stop crosses but if a choice had to be made between allowing them to cross or play through and around us, we let them hit high crosses knowing that we had more tall trees than they had attacking to defend the situation.
When City did take shots from distance, we were clever in the timing of our challenges. If you step out of your hole before they’ve committed to the shot, then they can play around you.
We waited for their eyes to go down and then stepped forward to block the shot.
Alongside this we were aware of the need to stop them going around the outside of our full backs and hitting cutbacks and low balls
Mike McDonald @mike_mmcdonald
through our six-yard box. Very important against City. The full back would slide further to his outside and his supporting winger would slide with him, not allowing them to do anything but pass it backwards and continually recycle and shift the ball endlessly around the perimeter of the box.
The success of 55 minutes out of the 56 minutes played with 10 men was also a direct product of years of practicing the importance of defensive organisation.
Such details are the fine margins which decide big games.
Specifically, Arteta knew how our players value the distances between them when they are defending.
You’ll have noticed City rarely tried to get into our box, because they couldn’t find a gap large enough to combine or pass through.
Why didn’t we leave a player high as a target so we could get out?
Because we were playing City and not Leicester. We committed to a 5-4 formation and even though a 4-4-1 would’ve given us the odd opportunity to attack, we were winning and didn’t have to attack - and City’s coach is rather good at finding your weaknesses.
Arteta also would’ve chosen this strategy because he saw insecurity and frustration in City and knew this would frustrate them further.
You could see their concerns two seconds into the game as Rodri shuffled across to block Kai Havertz deliberately to try to get him sent off, as they know Arsenal are now their equals both on the field and sitting in the dugout.
They crowded the referee trying to get our players in trouble and their oversized baby who plays upfront saw it was a worthy risk to continue to plow into our players as if he was trying to get recruited as a lineman for whatever gridiron team City own.
Arsenal were clever in not reacting because he was relying on us reacting, hence why he thought they could win the game if he threw the ball at Gabriel’s head, instigating a brawl.
Arteta also would’ve chosen this strategy because he saw insecurity and frustration in City
So, what should City have done?
They should’ve hit their passes at half the speed they did. Arsenal weren’t looking to intercept and attack, and they fizzed the ball from side to side giving their next player very little chance to hit a first time shot.
Compare how City were weighting their passes to how Gabi Martinelli gently rolled the ball to Riccardo Calafiori for his goal.
City should also have tried to dink the ball over our block as they have done many times to many teams in the past. The midfielders and wingers were not making runs behind and those with the ball were not being proactive in attempting this.
City were very poor considering we gave them the football for nearly an hour. They didn’t even try to combine in small spaces or dribble into the box. It wouldn’t have been easy, but they have the players to pull it off.
Their equalizing goal was simply a result of switching off, bad refereeing/VAR (again) and bad luck. Jakub Kiwior was being fouled in the box and VAR should’ve spotted it. He then tried, and succeeded in diving in front of the shot when David Raya would’ve saved it and pushed it away from pressure. The ball spun to where Kiwior would’ve been standing if he wasn’t fouled and didn’t dive, and John Stones wouldn’t have had the chance to score.
The fact is we are no longer in City’s shadow.
There is no gap, and it’s evident they know it. If they felt superior, they would’ve sprinted back to the halfway line and sacrificed celebrating, but a draw at home to Arsenal was a good result for them now. Arsenal have arrived at the top table.
Theseason is now off and running and overall, I think we have done well considering our tough schedule at the start of this season.
It was made tougher by the injury to our captain, and the sending off of two of our players, but looking at the tables, we are in very healthy positions, and I expect that to continue.
It’s been a strange start for home fans, we went four weeks without a game, before playing four home games in ten days, prior to the October international break.
The Spurs and Manchester City away games took centre stage.
I think we were all a bit wary of playing at the toilet bowl without our captain and Declan Rice.
I’m sure the latter had been looking forward to taking corners again and being abused by that clown from last season.
But no, we should not have worried, we had a fully deserved win and once again, their manager looked a fool given his previous comments about dead ball situations.
Fan favourite Mickey Cannon looks at the the City match, Dark Arts, Champions League and more
City away, however, was one that took us through all the emotions.
Those last ten minutes, both in the actual ninety minutes plus the injury time was torturous and felt like an hour.
I came away with feeling immense pride as well as disappointment and anger at yet another harsh sending off.
I hope the team take the positives from that and will look at how City were celebrating a draw against us and realise just how much things have changed.
We went toe-to-toe with them and proved we are genuine title challengers again, and that we have improved even further from last season.
That’s one of many things that I like about this team, so many players are getting better and better under the management of Mikel Arteta, with the main one possibly being big Gabby at the back.
I don’t think anyone appreciated just how good he would become when we signed him for around £21m.
That’s one of many things that I like about this team, so many players are getting better and better under the management of Mikel Arteta, with the main one possibly being big Gabby at the back
The discussion about Arsenal in the aftermath of those two games has been around our use of ‘the dark arts’ which I find bemusing when they are coming from ex-players such as Roy Keane and Gary Neville.
So many teams have used the timewasting tactics we did. It’s called being professional.
While I don’t believe the the media are against us, as some Arsenal fans do, I just think it is a chance to say something different about us and create a lazy narrative.
Something else that has been highlighted for the past few games is how ‘weak’ our squad is, having so many young players on the bench.
It doesn’t worry me, having seven substitutes, or even nine, is ridiculous and is a waste of so many of those player’s time.
With nine subs being allowed in Europe, that’s just more cost for planes, hotels, coaches, space in the ground, with no real chance for at least three of them to ever get game time.
So having so many inexperienced players isn’t really an issue, as they will never get a real opportunity to come on.
Champions League
I’ve been reading more about the later stages of this new format and was intrigued to learn that the knock-out rounds will be staged in a similar style to tennis tournaments, so each club is seeded.
This means that whoever finished top of the table, will never play the club who finished second until the final, should they both progress of course.
For the play-off rounds, again, clubs will be seeded, but it’s not as simple as the club who finishes ninth will play the club who finished 24th, instead it will be the clubs who finish ninth and 10th going into a draw against those who were placed 23rd and 24th.
All this should mean even on matchday eight, there will still be so much to play for, even for those few teams who will be assured of a top eight place by that stage.
THE BATTLE OF OLD TRAFFORD
As a new rivalry between Arsenal and Manchester City takes shape, Steve Pye takes a look back at a fiery flashpoint during the intense, decades-long hatred between the Gunners and Manchester United
It was never going to take much. A rivalry had been simmering nicely between Arsenal and Manchester United for a few years before the two clubs met in the league at Old Trafford on Saturday October 20, 1990.
As Dennis Irwin and Anders Limpar battled for possession in the 60th minute, Nigel Winterburn added his weight to the argument. Ignition.
Winterburn had been a central figure in a previous instalment of the ongoing North-South dispute. After Brian McClair had hilariously blazed a penalty into the North Bank at the end of an FA Cup fifth round match, Winterburn offered his less than sympathetic response to the gutted Scottish forward. McClair appeared less than impressed.
So, it was hardly surprising that the pair were fully involved as the 1990 Battle of Old Trafford kicked off. Even donning the biggest pair of Arsenal-tinted specs it is possible to admit that Winterburn’s overthe-ball tackle on Irwin was reckless at best, almost brutal. As the home crowd roared in disapproval at Winterburn’s actions, United’s players took it upon themselves to retaliate.
McClair was a few feet away from Limpar and Irwin when Winterburn arrived. As Arsenal’s
Pye
full back went to ground, here was a chance of retribution after his penalty miss at Highbury. Irwin managed to get one kick in on Winterburn, fair enough really as he had been on the end of a poor challenge. But McClair’s hat trick of volleys into the back was the moment things got out of control.
Aggrieved at seeing one of their teammates kicked repeatedly, Arsenal’s players steamed in. David Rocastle, Tony Adams, Paul Davis and Michael Thomas all took it in turns to demonstrate to McClair that here was a team that would fight for each other. The volume of the crowd grew as the Scot ended up being pushed towards the dugouts.
“We were a strong side, a tough outfit and we took it personally if something was happening to one of our mates,” Adams explained in his autobiography Addicted. “You are like brothers, like family, and if someone is beating up your family you go to help.” McClair discovered this the hard way.
Elsewhere, United midfielder Paul Ince attempted to push Limpar over the perimeter of the pitch, something that infuriated Rocastle so much that he had to be held back by United keeper Les Sealey. Eventually the dust settled, as beleaguered referee Keith Hackett attempted to sift through the wreckage as the incident unfolded.
Deciding to book only Winterburn and Limpar (quelle surprise), Hackett later defended himself by stating that he did not see everything that had occurred that day. But it was inevitable that the Football Association would take further action towards both players and clubs. A hearing date was set for Monday November 12. In the meantime, the press went to town.
The match itself received limited coverage, a shame considering that Arsenal’s 1-0 win was the stuff of champions. Hughes, McClair, Pallister and Webb all went close for United in a first half that saw Arsenal under the cosh. Yet it would be Limpar’s clever goal from Davis’ short corner that proved to be the match winner.
punishing Limpar, Winterburn, Davis, Rocastle and Thomas. But it was the £9,000 fine for manager George Graham that made headlines. “I think these incidents have sullied the name of Arsenal Football Club and it is very regrettable,” stated the apologetic Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood.
The press vultures circled. The scenes were not ideal, although watching an Arsenal team react in that way always stirs the blood, in much the same way as the recent Timber incident at Tottenham did. But apart from the main protagonists, the vast majority seemed to be trying to calm the situation down. It was far from the 21-man brawl that the press would have us believe.
The fact that Arsenal had previous added to the story. Involved in a confrontation with Norwich at the end of a dramatic 4-3 home win in November 1989, Arsenal were vulnerable at the hearing.
When news broke that Arsenal would be deducted two points and United one (and both fined £50,000), the consensus was that Liverpool had just been handed the title.
Graham saw it differently. Despite being eight points behind leaders Liverpool, Arsenal’s manager was defiant. “We are still second and undefeated
the lines, the FA could stick their two points up their arses; a mantra both players and supporters adopted for the rest of the season.
Secretly you wonder if Graham loved the whole affair. He had built a team that would not only win their second title in three seasons, but would be prepared to stand up for each other. Adams always said that you need at least seven players in a team who are willing to fight if needed. Graham’s Arsenal had this in abundance.
“It seems fashionable just now to get on the bandwagon and get into Arsenal,” Graham stated in his brilliant speech to the Arsenal players during the fallout. Watching this on the end of season review video was a great insight into his genius, how he used the criticism to create a siege mentality.
It is something that I’m sure Mikel Arteta has been working on in recent weeks. With Arsenal players apparently the only ones that can be punished for delaying restarts, and the tactics against Manchester City absurdly lambasted.
The us against them feeling is growing. George used this wisely to his advantage to land Arsenal the title in 1990-91. Let’s hope Mikel does the same in 2024-25.
BY FAR THE GREATEST TEAM
Simon Rose @thatsimonrose
“And it’s Ar-se-nal! Ar-se-nal FC! We’re by far the greatest team the world has ever seen!...”. It’s quite a claim.
Let’s break that down.
By far, the greatest team, the world, has ever seen. Brazil 1970, maybe. Yer Real Madrids of the 1950s, perhaps. But everyone sings that song. Bristol City fans will sing it, with a straight face and palms aloft.
I love Arsenal Football Club dearly - I thought everyone supported Arsenal when I was a runt – but if Donald Trump knew the song existed, he’d probably claim it for himself.
But maybe, just maybe, Arsenal are on their way to becoming by far the greatest team this Premier League season has ever seen. We are raising our bar and it’s having real impact.
I wrote in issue 307 about "Three ways Arsenal can win the league", citing “Set-pieces: take keepers out of the equation”, “We need a Haaland equivalent” and “Saka must finally have a genuine deputy”. Mikel Arteta must be a Gooner subscriber because we are delivering on all fronts. Boy does it auger well.
Gabriel is practically media public enemy number one given how brilliantly we find him from corners, leading to goals and wins. They hate it. We love it.
In some respects, you would expect teams to neutralise it, but here’s the rub: we’re more intelligent than our opponents. That’s how we came up with our ploys and why they’re being so successful.
How are we so good at set-pieces? If I could see how, you can bet our coaches did. It’s so simple too: most modern defenders don’t really like to defend. Our defenders love to defend!
All of them – especially Gabriel and Saliba, but not just them – personally take great pleasure in winning defensive duels. (That word makes me wince a little, there are no pistols at dawn here). It’s also why they’re so good at attacking them.
Top defenders are bodyguards: they throw themselves into the line of fire. When the media wonder why Manchester United are so bad, I shout the same two things that have been obvious to me for years, which the media never mention and certainly which former United players dare not say as pundits, as they have a gravy train to protect.
1) United have no defensive organisation or responsibility: it’s someone else’s fault, someone else can make the effort.
2) United may never have another era.
United never had an era before Matt Busby and waited a long time for another one, under Fergie, but there’s no guarantee Utd will have another era.
United, under whichever manager since Fergie retired, sling massive fees and wages at endless new players, which they soon get fed up with and usurp with the next miracle players, but then they can’t get rid of them and are lumbered with a bloated disillusioned squad that can barely be bothered.
What United cannot sign is the one thing they’ve needed since Ferguson retired: another Ferguson. He was the crucial glue. Without him
at United, nothing sticks. They need to do what we’ve done with Arteta and Edu: appoint former players to teach the club and what it means.
Arsenal have Arsenal men who know what really matters. United need the same, to espouse that club.
Most of our opponents aren’t bodyguards. They don’t want to defend our set-pieces. Honestly, watch them! Gabriel’s winner at Spurs was passed off as a foul on Romero, but Cristian Romero was with Gabriel till Gabriel made his run, then Romero just let him go and didn’t contest the header. Not our problem.
“Oooh, Arsenal foul keepers and block defenders!” Not really, we just position ourselves better than you, to make space for planned runs. We know why, you don’t have a clue until we score.
Most of our players loiter beyond the back post, to watch the flight of the ball and make runs accordingly, rather than wait by the near post and see it sail over their heads. Clever, but simple. Gabriel lurks centrally and then makes a piercing determined run that most defenders don’t have the stomach to contest. So they let him go! He’s not just scoring, he’s scoring from inside the six-yard box!
To land an Erling Haaland equivalent and a Bukayo Saka deputy was tricky: find another beanpole Shrek monster hybrid, plus a talented winger who accepts he won’t always play. And then Chelsea asked us to hold another of their beers. Raheem Sterling is manna from heaven. As soon as I saw his Chelsea statement I thought “he’s digging an escape route, he’d be perfect for us”. There may be no Haaland conveyor belt, but all teams hate pace.
Arteta knows Raheem from City: he’d surely love to get one over them, he can play anywhere across the front three, he’d draw immediate respect from the squad and would accept he won’t always start or play, yet we
have major matches and challenges ahead of us, all at a club that supports its players. He must be overjoyed! All for a season’s loan without having to sling at least £100m at a gamble. It’s perfect.
And then along came Rodri. I can never wish injury on anyone, whoever they play for, but I can have limited sympathy. Rodri tried to ruin Martin Odegaard last season, for Spain against Norway. He’s patronised us and even stood straight in Havertz’s way at the Etihad recently, to try to force an early red card. I empathise with Rodri’s injury, but he’s finally been hoist on his own petard.
Rodri’s season absence doesn’t hand us the title, anymore than Roy Keane’s did in 9798: you still have to be brilliant and earn the success. But what a golden opportunity we have. We have raised our bar, the media hate it and our opponents are struggling to cope. By the time Rodri returns, we could have landed big honours as by far the greatest team and
COUNTRYMAN’S COLUMN
Introducing our brilliant new columnist Paul Brooker aka Countryman who shares his experiences following The Arsenal
TheEditor has asked me to start writing a new column for The Gooner, based on my occasional ramblings on Goonerholics Forever, the blog set up to honour Dave Faber, the Goonerholic, who I was honoured to know.
So, who am I? I’ve been an Arsenal supporter since I was six, in 1963. It’s a long story why, I’ll tell it one day.
When I was a student, I lived a few hundred yards from the ground just off Blackstock Road. When I entered the world of work I moved to Cambridgeshire, where I still live.
Our season tickets are in the North Bank Lower. My constant companion at football is my son who is now 25. Last season we went to 38 games, 25 at home and 13 away.
Like many of you, we much prefer seeing games live and away games are our favourite.
The last two were the Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City.
Spurs Away
I find it a curious stadium. Gazing around it seems curiously sterile. Perfect for NFL or Beyoncé concerts but turn off the electronic signs and you could be anywhere.
In the first few years at the Emirates the club spent a lot of time giving it an identity. Our trophies proudly circle the pitch and banners and signs, all different, from fan groups all round the world, sit proudly above and below them. I noticed that Spurs fans don’t sing, apart from that curious slow dirge that they pinched from Southampton.
People ask me why I go to away games. Why I expend so much time, effort and money in going behind enemy lines. Walking through mean estates surrounded by strange people with a chicken on a basketball on their chests.
It’s for days such as beating Spurs away. For Gooners of my generation September’s North London derby was the perfect victory. Against the odds, with eight of the first team squad not available for selection, with four teenagers on the bench, a gritty and well-planned defensive performance kept Spurs at bay.
And to put the cap on the win, a centre half determined to get his head on a perfect corner thumped the ball home in front of 3,000 ecstatic Arsenal fans.
For a moment we were back in the 1980s, with George Graham masterminding a tough mean back five and Tony Adams putting life and limb at risk to get his nut on the ball. And life and limb were at risk in the away end as we went berserk as the net rippled.
My son and I are now two for two at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium.
That’s why we go to away games.
Manchester City away
A long trip to the Etihad. I’ve never seen us win there. A four hour drive each way, fortified by breakfast at the American diner on the A1.
We were up in the Gods in the third tier. I walk with a stick these days, so I took the lift. This is shared with City fans and I was wearing my Arsenal scarf. For three slow floors I got dog’s abuse. Water off a duck’s back.
You know the story of the game. One nil down, two one up. The red card. Superb second half rear guard performance. The cruel 98th minute flukey equaliser.
There’s been some criticism of the defensive masterclass but I was there when Granit Xhaka got sent off early, we kept on attacking and then lost 5-0.
We’re in City’s head
It brings back the rivalry with Manchester United in the 1990s.
For a moment we were back in the 1980s, with George Graham masterminding a tough mean back five and Tony Adams putting life and limb at risk to get his nut on the ball
They celebrated their draw at home with wild abandon. They haven’t beaten us in four games now (two wins, two draws). Rude words after from John Stones and Bernardo Silva about negative football.
Err lads, when we had a man sent off we were winning, remember? We are living rent free. Mark my words, the rivalry and dislike is very real.
The team performance was magnificent and yet again our goalkeeper was superb. They deserved the win. 10 v 11 for well over 53 minutes of the second half. It was so near to being the perfect away day.
After the most difficult two weeks of the season, away to Villa, Spurs and City we have taken seven out of nine points.
We have lost our captain to injury. We didn’t land until 3am Friday after an away game in Europe. City played the day before at home. After all of that, we are just two points behind them. Arsenal, I salute you. You did us proud.
WHAT DO SUPPORTERS’
Here’s Richard Smith from AISA to explain the purpose and benefits of supporters clubs
Did you have trouble reading the teams on the big screens inside the stadium for the first few matches this season?
For many of the crowd not sitting close to them, or without benefit of a telescope or the vision of Superman, the new, thin font was practically unreadable.
Supporters asked us at AISA, ‘What’s going on?’ We raised it with the club and for the next match, we were pleased to see the previous, legible font was restored.
Now we can’t claim it was just us that instigated the changes. Other fans will probably have been in touch with the club – and the people responsible might also have realised, too. But change there was.
So, while we can’t claim sole credit, either for these and other improvements since then, we have been at the forefront of discussing and debating with the club directly, concerns of match-day spectators.
Back in 2021, those discussions included the size of bags permitted to be brought into the stadium. A maximum size of A5-size for a bag had just been set. That’s the merely size of the printed Gooner.
In a meeting, we pointed out that the minutes were being recorded on a laptop that wouldn’t be allowed in – hopeless if you were a supporter coming straight from work.
Within days, the permitted size had been increased to A4/rucksacks.
We’ve also successfully raised day-to-day issues that affect the matchday supporter, like improving access and entry to the stadium, signage outside the stadium, stewarding, general deterioration of the stadium’s condition,
Richard Smith @AISA_Arsenal
and ticketing and website anomalies… amongst many! Of course, there’s much else supporters’ clubs like AISA do, from organising events with former players and club insiders to discussions with the owners about the strategy and direction of the club.
But it’s often on matchdays that our impact may be most noticeable if not widely recognised by many.
The latest issue has been the sound system. It’s long been a complaint from AISA members that interviews are inaudible, and we’ve had many discussions with the stadium management as they sought to find a solution. But this season, the problem has changed. Depending on where you sit, it can be deafeningly loud.
At the Brighton men’s Premier League match, an average of 98.9 decibels was recorded in the East Stand, with a peak of 108.6db. This is described as ‘extremely loud’ in official documentation and, without earplugs, 90 seconds at that higher level can cause ear damage. Even the average – that equates to a circular saw – makes any kind of conversation between supporters impossible.
AISA has been part of a group keen to improve the atmosphere in the stadium, but ear-spitting volumes have not been part of the recommendations.
The club has acknowledged our concerns and has responded, saying, ‘This is currently under review with sound engineers, and we hope any necessary adjustments can be made. before the next match.’
Hopefully, by the time you are reading this, those adjustments will have been carried out, and your ears will not have been assailed at the most recent matches!
SUPPORTERS’ CLUBS DO FOR US?
But what does this all actually mean to match-going supporters?
It signals that the club is prepared to listen to supporters’ concerns and – more than listen –welcomes them and actively responds to them, which is a huge step forward on how it seemed to be at the start of this decade.
And it demonstrates how important that supporters use their voice. Anyone can contact the club with individual moans, but it helps when issues are raised with the weight of an organisation like AISA that is trusted and known to represent a large number of people. Being a part of it ensures your voice is heard and ours continues to be truly representative, and is strong, respected and can help lead to change. It benefits both the club and you.
With your help and your membership, that’s what supporters’ clubs like AISA can do for you!
See page 21 for details on how to join AISA
The AISA team also help out at Islington Foodbank at The Arsenal
ALL CHANGE AS JONAS EIDEVALL DEPARTS
Arsenal
Women are on the search for a new head coach after Jonas Eidevall resigned from his position following a disappointing start to the season.
After an underperforming 2023-24 campaign that at least heralded a second League Cup title in as many years, Eidevall’s primary objective this time around was to return the Gunners to the Champions League group stage.
He was able to do so, with wins over Rangers and Rosenborg in the first round of qualifying before recovering from a 1-0 defeat in Gothenburg to beat BK Hacken and secure a place in Group C.
Eidevall’s vigorous celebrations as four goals rained in against Hacken, slamming his first on top of the Meadow Park dugout, confirmed this was a manager who knew his job was at serious risk had Arsenal failed to turn the tie around.
Just shy of three weeks later however, Eidevall handed in his resignation.
Having thrown everything at reaching the Champions League, Arsenal’s start to their Women’s Super League campaign came at a cost.
A 2-2 draw against Manchester City could have been more if not for missed chances in front of goal, before the Gunners scraped past Leicester City in a far from inspiring display.
Arsenal’s issue was scoring goals, and fans were within their rights to feel frustrated. After all, the Gunners had let a certain Vivianne Miedema join title rivals Manchester City in the summer, and watched her find the net against them on her return to Emirates Stadium (albeit via a deflection).
The decision to allow Miedema, arguably the greatest player in the WSL’s history, to leave,
without offering the league’s all-time leading scorer a new contract, was one that split the fanbase in half. Audible voices of dissent towards Eidevall pierced the air on the final day of last season, and those voices would only become louder.
Arsenal again failed to deliver in front of goal as they returned to the Emirates to face Everton, playing out a goalless draw.
Worryingly, signs of defensive frailties had crept in, particularly against Leicester, and waiting to punish them were a certain Bayern Munich.
Goals from Spanish duo Mariona Caldentey and Laia Codina had helped Arsenal into a good position after an hour in Bavaria, but a 13-minute hat-trick from Chelsea striker Pernille Harder turned a respectful display into a dismal night for the Gunners.
With concerns over organisation, marking from set-pieces and simple defensive errors being made, Arsenal’s flaws were well and truly laid bare by Bayern.
That a defence containing Leah Williamson, Laia Codina, Katie McCabe and Emily Fox were
conceding such basic goals- including three headers- symbolised a disconnect between players and management.
Up next was the small matter of title rivals Chelsea, and Arsenal’s defence picked off where they left off, conceding twice in the opening 16 minutes and falling to a 2-1 defeat despite a more spirited second half display.
Eidevall skirted around questions post-match over whether he was the right person to lead the club forward, as well as if the Swede had indeed lost the faith of his players.
A hurried walk down the tunnel after full-time would be his last as Arsenal boss, resigning as head coach on Monday, October 14, with players, and fans, notified the following day.
Who then will replace Eidevall? There is no easy answer at the time of writing, nor obvious names who will certainly be top of Arsenal’s shortlist.
With the best average attendance figures in global women’s football, and a more than modest budget to spend come January, it will be a hard job to turn down.
ARSENAL, CITY AND THE GROCER
Right now, the stories of Arsenal and Manchester City are connected. Naturally, the intensifying animosity of successive title-chasing head-to-heads has generated huge volumes of narrative, schadenfreude and clicks. To this zero-sum game is added not only the pungent stink of 115 charges of Premier League rule-breaking, but also the nuanced backstory of our manager’s prior service at both clubs.
He is two things at once: an embodiment of Arsenal DNA; and apprentice to Pep’s sorcerer.
Long before Mikel’s mixed City-Arsenal identity emerged over the last 13 years (and counting), another Arsenal legend connected the clubs across a story that spanned the quarter-century from 1946 to 1971.
Much like Mikel, Joe Mercer (a legendary captain, who, led us through an almost miraculous post-war resurrection to bag two League titles and an FA Cup) came to the Arsenal from Everton late in his playing career and hung up his boots here.
“The ’phone at the shop rang one day. The voice at the other end was [Everton Manager]
Theo Kelly. ‘Arsenal are interested in you’, he said. Since he obviously wasn’t, except to get rid of me, I was excited.
If Arsenal asked you to play with two good legs, you jumped at the chance. If they were interested in a grocer with a gammy leg, well, I was prepared to go on all fours.
I didn’t have to. My father-in-law, who had set me up in the grocery business, went with me to meet George Allison (the Arsenal manager)
Highbury Librarian @N5Librarian
at the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool. We had the shortest transfer talk ever, I didn’t even sit down… Theo Kelly brought my boots to the Adelphi – that was the last straw. I was hurt and said, ‘You’ll regret selling me, Theo’…”
Reflecting their late-career arrival in North London, both Joe and Mikel shifted to deeper roles that emphasised their superpowers for reading the game and accurate distribution.
“In the weeks that followed Joe's transfer, he was persuaded by Tom Whittaker to adapt his method of play.
The knee injury inhibited his natural style, so Whittaker advised him to play more defensively, Joe’s attacking play simply drained him, and left terrible gaps in the defence that his spindly legs could no longer cover.
Under Whittaker's guidance, he lay well back and became almost a fourth full-back. He later claimed that Arsenal were the first to introduce ‘the flat back four’.
Liverpool centre-forward Albert Stubbins noticed the change in Joe’s style: ‘Joe told me that when he went to Highbury he was told never to cross the halfway-line… It obviously worked. Joe was a very fine passer of the ball. He could give you a beautiful pass over 30 yards, as straight as anything.’”
James (1993), Football with a Smile, p.62
Despite each emerging as a leader of the Arsenal dressing room, Joe and Mikel travelled north to begin their coaching careers. For
The Highbury Librarian reflects on the intertwined histories of Arsenal and Manchester City by looking back at former Gunner and Manchester City manager Joe Mercer. With excerpts from Joe Mercer, OBE: Football With A Smile , by Gary James (1993)
James (1993), Football with a Smile, p.62
Joe, there were instructive periods in charge at Sheffield United (1955-58) and Aston Villa (1958-64) before taking the reins at City in 1965. Of course, at that time, City was not the dominant force that has emerged under its current ownership.
“That year, 1965, began miserably for City fans… those who were left.
Their team was struggling in Division Two after being relegated two years earlier. Then, on 13 January, City went to Third Division Shrewsbury for an FA Cup third-round replay and lost 3-1.
It was the final straw, especially as near neighbours Manchester United were at their peak. It was one of the lowest points in City’s history. Three days after the Shrewsbury debacle, City were at home to Swindon Town.
The attendance was a pitiful 8,015, City’s lowest-ever for a League match, and the vast Maine Road stadium had an eerie feel.”
James (1993), Football with a Smile, p.173
It was not only City that was in bad shape. The sack at Villa had been preceded by Joe suffering a stroke.
To a body already broken by chronic injuries from his playing days, the stroke added a possible sign that he was buckling under the strain of management.
Joe could have walked away to the relative calm of his grocery business.
“‘Football could live without Joe Mercer,’ he said years later, ‘but I found out that I couldn’t live without football.
I was out of the game for seven months with a stroke. I kennelled up and then came back to Manchester City. Little Albert Alexander was chairman then, and everything went right, every mortal thing.’”
Mercer’s managerial tenure at Manchester City (with the exuberant assistance of Malcolm Allison in the apprentice role) was
James (1993), Football with a Smile, p.173
Perhaps, like Joe, Mikel will deliver a club’s first league title in a generation – and, rather than sky blue, the ribbons will be red and white
extraordinarily successful. Across six years, he delivered the club’s second ever League title (1967-68) and first in over 30 years.
To this crowning achievement, his team added the FA Cup (1969), the League Cup (1970) and the European Cup Winners’ Cup (1970), which was the club’s only European trophy until 2023.
Though Joe Mercer was clearly an outstanding player, the most consistently compelling theme of his life in football is, undoubtedly for me, leadership.
As a player and a manager, he helped to propel groups of professional footballers to extraordinary heights in tactical acuity, collective cohesion and robust competitiveness.
Mikel too emerged as a leader during his playing career, and has developed a tactically sophisticated, cohesive unit that appears to readily relish the technical and physical demands of competing at the very pinnacle of the Premier League.
Perhaps, like Joe, Mikel will deliver a club’s first league title in a generation – and, rather than sky blue, the ribbons will be red and white.
THE GREAT DIVIDE
THE 1960s – THE CANNON'S STRUGGLES AGAINST THE COCKEREL
WhenI began to support Arsenal in 1958 I was very young, following them from a South London base, not attending matches and there was virtually no television coverage, so the extent of the rivalry in North London was lost on me.
I remember being happy that Spurs won the double in 1961 and seeing the incredulity and disgust on my dad’s face that he had sired offspring that didn’t viscerally hate Tottenham.
Spurs were a very elegant team then who played great, flowing football and were in the market to sign the biggest players – among them Jimmy Greaves, Mike England, Alan Gilzean and Martin Chivers. Arsenal on the other hand, were defensively a shower but were full of goals.
My first real experience of a North London derby was a titanic clash at Highbury in the autumn of 1963. With the crowd spilling onto the pitch for safety reasons, the game was a classic.
It is one of the games that live with me even now over sixty years later. Spurs took a 4-2 lead at half-time but two George Eastham goals, one a penalty, had kept us in it. The score stayed the same until five minutes from time when Joe Baker made it 4-3. In the last minute Geoff Strong headed in a corner at the North Bank end and bedlam ensued.
The game underlined to me the playing superiority of Tottenham then and they were unlucky not to win. Apart from the Double in 1961 they won the Cup again the following year with Greaves in tow and then became the first English team to lift a European trophy (the European Cup Winners' Cup) beating Atlético Madrid 5-1 before winning another FA Cup in 1967.
It is worth pointing out that it was then not unusual for people to watch Spurs one week and then Arsenal the next and for them to regard the neighbours as their second side.
It is worth pointing out that it was then not unusual for people to watch Spurs one week and Arsenal the next
I used to travel occasionally to games at the Lane with two delightful characters who lived in Stamford Hill and, while rabid Spurs men, had a soft spot for Arsenal. That is impossible to envisage now.
I also know that the Arsenal and Spurs players regularly went drinking together in North London hostelries and to underline the different relationship that existed then when George Graham got married he chose Terry Venables as his best man.
What made this particularly significant was that the ceremony took place on the morning of a North London Derby at Highbury. George had an early wedding present as Arsenal won the match 4-0.
Arsenal drew a blank in this decade and had gone 17 years without a trophy. But they reached two League Cup Finals at the end of the period and had found in Bertie Mee and Howe a management team to compete with the legendary Bill Nicholson.
While the Swindon debacle is etched on my memory, two finals in two years was nevertheless a clear sign of progress and, tellingly, we reached the 1969 final after winning a two-leg semi with Tottenham due to a late equaliser from John Radford.
It was clearly Tottenham’s decade in terms of achievement and trophies - but momentum was shifting towards Arsenal as the 1970s approached…
Peter Le Beau’s must-read series takes a forensic look at the North London derby in the second of six parts
Peter Le Beau @GoonerFanzine
HOWES GROWLS
ItRichard Howes @richhowes
was early Saturday afternoon, and I was having a drink in The Lamb on Holloway Road. Believe it or not, Arsenal had their first of two consecutive 3pm home league kick-offs a couple of hours later.
I had one elbow on the table where my beer sat, which I was sharing with two Gooners also bound for the match versus Leicester City.
The pre-game hubbub created a sweet, euphonious sound — at least it did in undecipherable harmony. As I made my way further into my pint of Five Points Best, a singlehopped bitter, individual voices started to cut through the background noise until audible.
“Why did nobody point out that the ball was rolling when Declan [Rice] kicked it?”
“If it was any other team, that wouldn’t have been a sending off.”
Here we go again — the insufferable din of tyrannised Gooners, bleating for pity. I wanted to run out of the building. I saw a 253 through the window but, alas, it was travelling too quickly to get there in time to jump in front of it.
I was about to head for the sanctuary of the street, where the noise of the passing traffic would surely drown out nauseating conversations about biased referees and partisan pundits.
Seemingly, like many of today’s fans, it was as though it were news to them that the world enjoys turning on us
One more mouthful of nectar first, I thought. Upon gulping it down, the boozer’s guv’nor, Ade, walked past me, gleefully swinging a jumbo roll of paper on his way into the toilet; the spool in the cubicle was obviously down to its cardboard centre and word had reached the flat-capped landlord. He looked almost proud of the reel, as though it were a wheel of prizewinning cheese.
As he disappeared through the doorway to wrestle with the dispenser, I was overcome with jealousy. There was the publican, blissfully out of earshot from the patrons still surrounding me outside. As Ade worked, whining customers continued to seek solace at the nearby urinals, but a full pan bubbling mere inches from his nostrils was distraction enough. It was comparative utopia.
Just when I was wondering if it would be appropriate to ask if I could join him in there — perhaps I could have checked the cistern for leaks — a fellow tapped me on the shoulder. By now, I had lost colour in my cheeks and was feeling dizzy. I think it was this kind gentleman’s way of checking I was ok.
“It’s one-all,” he beamed. Anthony Gordon had just stroked home Newcastle’s secondhalf penalty in their early kick-off against Manchester City.
The significance of that equaliser, nearly 300 miles away, was huge because the game ended in a draw, while eventual stoppage time goals from Leandro Trossard and Kai Havertz meant we won our later game 4-2 to go level with City on points at the top of the league.
Pivots like this are only important, especially early in the season, when the stakes are high. It means Arsenal are where we belong.
As night follows day, conspiring against the Gunners is trending again, and most of our fans have seemingly forgotten what that’s like.
In his second comeback column, Richard Howes snarls at Arsenal fans looking for pity when the world is out to slaughter us
It’s an unfamiliar experience for our manager, Mikel Arteta, and the players too. But together we’ve got to wise up. Fear and loathing of us is back, emphatically.
Truth is, Trossard and Rice cost us in the early throes of the season with needless red cards, as farcical as both decisions, against City and Brighton respectively, seemed at the time.
I’ve heard it said at bars in N7, N5, and countless other post codes, that referees Michael Oliver (Trossard) and Chris Kavanagh (Rice) could’ve shown leniency or common sense. Since when did either apply to Arsenal?
I was 10 years old when we won the league in 1991. The club released a video that captured a season memorable for a brawl during our 1-0 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford in the October. I used to watch it obsessively, in all its grainy beauty.
Days after the game, George Graham, our manager at the time, sat the players down at the training ground and shared some delicate home truths.
His speech was included on the tape, and it was one of my favourite parts. The gist of it was that it’s fashionable to jump on the bandwagon and “get at the Arsenal,” as Graham put it.
The camera panned across the faces of players like the late David Rocastle, Paul Davis, Alan Smith, Paul Merson, and Anders Limpar; the latter who had scored the infamous match’s only goal.
Seemingly, like many of today’s fans, it was as though it were news to them that the world enjoys turning on us.
We were deducted two points for our involvement in the historic fracas, while the home team had just one docked from them.
Did we cry into our beer about it? No, we went on to win the league.
Nobody was bothered by us during a near decade long trophy drought, were they?
Embrace the loathing — it means we’re eating at the top table again.
One of the reasons I was so envious of Ade in the privy was that I love the smell of antiArsenal bile.
I enjoy spittle running down my face. Life is good when we’re vilified and conspired against. Long may it last.
I’m off to the lavatory.
OH ROCKY, ROCKY
Ever noticed how people only really hate us when we are The Arsenal again asks David Fensome
By the time he was nineteen, David 'Rocky' Rocastle had firmly secured his Arsenal footballing immortality.
In early March, 1987, he famously scored our late winning goal in a League Cup semi-final replay against the neighbours at White Hart Lane; while less than six weeks earlier he had endeared himself to Gooners everywhere when he flattened Norman Whiteside and then booted him again for good measure, receiving his marching orders – but being sent off for taking it to United was after all the ultimate badge of honour.
the league and on a seventeen game unbeaten run, but in 1987, as in 2004,
kicking us off the pitch. Whiteside got away with everything but actual murder that afternoon; amazingly he escaped any
David Fensome @DavidFensome
sanction from the ref for a series of fouls which today might receive a straight red.
Arsenal were so riled I recall that even the usually statesman-like David O’Leary complained, complained, and then complained some more; I have never seen O’Leary so angry in all the years I had been watching him.
The thing was that Rocky, for all his skill, technique, and film star smile, was a bit tasty when you pissed him off.
That afternoon Whiteside booted him black and blue, and George Graham teams didn’t accept that; Rocky didn’t accept it either. He hunted Whiteside down and finally got his man and then gave him a quick left foot to settle the debt. Perhaps it was unprofessional, it undoubtedly cost us the game, but you know back then I absolutely loved it, and loved Rocky all the more for standing up to them, for caring, and for George Graham patting him on the back when he left the pitch as if to say, “good on you son, that’s the Arsenal spirit”.
And boy did that team did have spirit, buckets full of it; afternoons like that one at Old Trafford forged a team and a collective spirit that would go on to win the most dramatic league title in the most dramatic manner just two years later; and then two years after that another title, won by being strong, resilient, bloody-minded and oh so Arsenal.
Rocky epitomised that team, a standard bearer that an army would follow into war. Sometimes, even in defeat, you can see what is great about a team. United did us that afternoon, but not by playing football or by being more unified but because the ref didn’t fancying it – the little man almost took a bow after sending Rocky off.
At the final whistle Arsenal marched on, collecting trophies over the next few years – a
band of brothers, all for one and one for all, games like that one helped forge that belief and togetherness.
Football back then, a time not so long ago but which feels like a different game had a strange kind of beauty about it; one people of my age understand instinctively.
It was our game, when the damp concrete, the wire fences, the smell of fags, beer, burgers and urine couldn’t tarnish the experience of following Arsenal; and when players, young lads like Rocky gave a bit back to bullies surreptitiously trying to intimidate them then you just knew you were living the best of all possible lives.
Whiteside to his credit, much later on, after he had hung his boots up sang Rocky’s praises and recognised him as one of the great midfielders of their era.
You couldn’t intimidate Rocastle said Whiteside, he just got up and gave you a bit back – and he was only 19!
While this martial instinct might have appealed less to Wenger, it never-the-less didn’t stop Wenger from naming Rocky as one of the first great modern midfielders – where athleticism was married to technical brilliance
and a cleverness that wasn’t merely gilding but something that created goals and won you games: when Rocky played he didn’t pose for photos he got stuck in.
That game in 1987 is as good a place as any to see where the hostilities which existed between United and Arsenal over the next twenty years began.
Of course this mini-series of Ferguson vs Graham peaked in 1990; with a title contributing 1-0 victory and a smashing punch up at the
He hunted Whiteside down and finally got his man and then gave him a quick left foot to settle the debt. Perhaps it was unprofessional, it undoubtedly cost us the game, but you know back then I absolutely loved it
centre of which is our Rocky being pulled away and calmed down by the United keeper Les Sealey (I had a mate who always referred to Sealey as ‘that condom’ – football abuse sometimes frustrates any attempt at rational interpretation whatsoever).
George Graham’s team didn’t give an inch and Rocky was one of his lieutenants, you could almost imagine him playing the right hand side of Arteta’s midfield three now; he was that kind of player: he would absolutely love the spirit that runs once again through the whole club; he would also recognise and embrace the battle for supremacy between ourselves and a team from Manchester.
While you can’t get away with some of the tackles you could in the late 80’s, Arsenal once again have a bit of bottle, they’re a team full of character, resilience, fight and an ‘over our dead bodies’ attitude; Rocky down to a ‘T’.
Graham famously said that, “its fine that people hate us, it is part of our history”.
Ever noticed how people only really hate us when we are The Arsenal again?
When Rocky stood up to Whiteside, how the Mancs cried and bayed – it was music to the ears; a bit like City and the nonsense about ‘dark arts’ ‘cos they’ve not been breaking rules for years have they?
There was something not quite right when neutrals liked us under Wenger; it never happened under Graham, and seems unlikely to happen any time soon under Mikel Arteta.
Yes, Rocky would have been well at home in this team; he’d have fought for everything, scored breathtaking goals and cared very little for reputations.
There is a reason that Rocky will never be forgotten: it’s because he captured the very essence of Arsenal Football Club and even in defeat on a rotten January afternoon in 1987 that couldn’t be crushed or quelled.
That afternoon Rocky lost the battle, but like his club he most certainly won the war.
“Oh Rocky, Rocky, Rocky, Rocky, Rocky, Rocky, Rocastle”
PAUL DAVIS
Respected journalist and loyal Gooner Nick Callow spoke with former Arsenal midfielder Paul Davis at the launch of the book Black Arsenal (Clive Chijioke Nwonka and Matthew Harle, 2024)
As a kid, I begged my Granddad to take me to see us play away at White Hart Lane. Having repeatedly explained it was against his principles on the basis ‘we do not give our money to that lot’ he finally relented shortly before my birthday, in April 1980.
The fixtures were coming thick and fast with the FA Cup and European Cup-Winners’ Cup both up for grabs and we were forced to field a significantly understrength side when Tottenham naturally refused a request to rearrange the match.
It made it even sweeter when ‘we beat Spurs with six reserves…’ and to top it all I got to see Paul Davis make his debut, the first of nearly 450 appearances for us.
He could have been a record holder for the Gunners had he not fallen out with manager George Graham and been exiled from the team for a period.
But he will be best remembered for his elegant midfield steel, a silky left foot and winning the title, a European trophy and both the FA and League Cup in nearly 20 years as an Arsenal man and boy – a supporter of the club then and now too.
I caught up with him at the recent launch event for the brilliant ‘Black Arsenal’ book in which he is a significant contributor.
Before we spoke, he addressed the audience with an emotional tribute to his old friend and team-mate Kevin Campbell and shared some
Nick Callow @strollernick
difficult times he experienced in the 70s and early 80s as one of the only few black players at the club and in top-flight football in England.
Going away to Leeds United and feeling the bitter racial abuse from more than 50,000 people are experiences that would have broken lesser men.
Instead, he rose above it, to not only enjoy a brilliant career for himself, but set an example for other young Londoners such as David Rocastle, Mickey Thomas and Super Kev to follow in his footsteps.
Q: You are regarded by many as a trailblazer for young black men to make their way at Arsenal.
Would there have been a Kevin Campbell without you? I'd argue you made it possible for black players such as Michael Thomas and Rocky, through to Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry and Bukayo Saka to thrive. Is that fair to say?
PD: Maybe, but at the time, when it was all happening, I wasn't looking at it like that.
Obviously, I was just trying to make my way in the game and just trying to forge a career. I knew, obviously, that I was the only black person in the room. And back then, it wasn't always easy.
Socially [racist] things were far more acceptable, even though they were wrong, and I instinctively knew they were wrong, but you can't really do anything. Society's almost kind of
against you in terms of the Law. People weren't being prosecuted for calling me whatever they wanted to call me.
So, yeah, it was tough, but you know, it's made me the person who I am, I believe, and I've seen the evolution of it all. I think Arsenal are in a fantastic place in terms of all this stuff, I'm so grateful to have been a part of it.
It's really humbling when I hear the effect that my presence in the club as a young player coming forward has had on so many people. I didn't realise until I finished playing and people started to come up to me and tell me how I had impacted their lives.
I wasn't trying to get away from them, because I didn't need to. Now, I was actually having conversations with people from the black community who were telling me that the only reason that they support Arsenal is because their mum and dad were supporting
Arsenal when I was playing. That was so powerful. And it wasn't just a one-off situationthat happens often, almost on a daily basis. It's really powerful.
Q: No one can walk in your shoes to know what you went through as a young man, a young Arsenal player to get to where you are today. Looking back, are you proud the more positive multi-cultural environment experienced by Arsenal players and supporters today was something, in part, you helped create?
PD: It is more humbling that anything. I do feel as though that I have been a big part of it because I hear how I have affected the fans.
When they say ‘my mum and dad started watching Arsenal when you were playing.’ I think ‘Wow, that's a long time ago. I must be old!’ It feels special, though.
When I look at our fan base. I look at the fans when I come to games - outside the stadium,
inside the stadium. When I'm watching on TV, and the camera pans in on our stadium I can see people that are looking like me. I don't always see that in other stadiums.
What we've managed to do at Arsenal as a club has been astonishing. I think there's still a lot to do but I think compared to where a lot of clubs are in this space, we're leading the way.
It's really humbling when I hear the effect that my presence in the club as a young player coming forward has had on so many people
It feels like Arsenal sort of reflects the society where the club is. Now I ask, ‘how can we develop things even more - not just at Arsenal, but throughout football?’
One area that I am working in is trying to promote more diversity in coaching and management. We'll see how that goes.
Q: Black Arsenal is dedicated to the memory of David Rocastle and Kevin Campbell. You clearly have a lot of love for both men, even though Kev used to call you 'pops' and tease you for being 'old'
PD: Kevin was really, really creative in what he did and some of the words that he came out with. He loved creating names for people. And the one he created for me was ‘Pops’ And it stuck.
Dave Rocastle, Mickey Thomas, Kevin, Gus Caesar were all coming through. I was still young, but they were younger than me and I had to naturally show them the ropes.
Sometimes they didn’t like it and once Kevin decided to make me ‘Pops’ they all started calling me ‘Pops.’
It took me a while to realise they weren’t all making fun and they actually respected me. They respected what I'd done and been through to enable them to get to where they were. I did try to support them because I knew it wasn't easy.
They were great times and I feel privileged to have had that experience.
Q: How important a player was Kevin in that squad of the early 1980s?
PD: When I spoke about Kevin I did some research to refresh my memory.
We won all the same trophies together here and he scored so many important goals. They were great times together.
The way he contributed to our success at that time, and what he brought to the dressing room is his personality, his culture he brought to the dressing room. I think that made us stronger as a team, helped us to win things. We wouldn't have won the league in 91 without him.
Black Arsenal is out now
Loyal Gooner Danny Simmonds recalls a long-lost cold October evening under the Highbury floodlights in his wonderfully evocative piece
Iwasseven years old, and my father asked me: “Would you like to come and see The Arsenal?”
I remember being excited, and nervous that whole day at school. The game kicked off at 730pm, as did most evening games until the powers of television changed fixture times.
Walking down Avenell Road was great. The shouts of ‘get your programme’, from the programme sellers, to ‘peanuts’ from the peanut guy, and ‘any tickets’ from the touts was all new to me.
As we walked into the East Stand and up the stairs, I could smell the cigar smoke, which to this day I still smell when I think of Arsenal.
Men in overcoats and sheepskins, shirts and ties. The floodlights shone like a magical display. The grass of the pitch was a perfect green.
Highbury had very distinct floodlights, different from the many grounds that have floodlight pylons. Like everything Arsenal did, it had a touch of class about it, as they lined the top of the stands.
“I was there” - Memories from my favourite matches
ArsenAl v TrAnmere rovers, TuesdAy, ocTober 2, 1973
Anticipation grew as we got nearer to kick off, and a lot of the Arsenal team playing had been part of the famous 197071 double team.
Charlie George was my hero, so to see him in real life was a real treat.
We lost the game 1-0 to then Fourth Division Tranmere, and I couldn’t tell you anything about the actual match itself, as it all felt a blur to me, but a love affair started for me that continues to this day.
THIS MIGHT BE OUR YEAR
Chris Howard on the fact we’re not “one or two short” anymore. You can read Chris at www.suburbangooners.com and find him on the Same Old Arsenal podcast with Amanda and James Cook
“One or two short.” I feel myself and mates have been saying that in the pubs around the Holloway Road for decades. You can probably go all the way back as far as the summer of 2005, the final one before we departed the history and nostalgia of the Marble Halls, to where that pub chat started.
We’d gone invincible two seasons before, we’d bagged the FA Cup with Patrick Vieira’s last kick, the rebuild was starting to take shape as Thierry Henry took the captaincy.
We still had the likes of Jens Lehman, Ashley Cole, Sol Campbell, Robert Pires, Freddie Ljungberg, Dennis Bergkamp, Lauren et al, as well as an up-and-coming Robin van Persie, but, even back then, we felt we needed a little something extra to replace our captain Paddy.
The season ended in heartbreak with a UEFA Champions League final loss, the summer finished with Bergkamp, Pires, Campbell, Jose Reyes leaving (then Lauren in the January window), which is when “one or two short” kicked into gear.
We weren’t used to this. We’d had eight years of fighting at the top, we knew all about the stadium project and how it would impact us, but we didn’t think it would have this much of an impact, did we?
There were close-run seasons. In 2007-8 we had a blistering start but couldn’t maintain it, and finished third. In 2015-16 we scraped second, but wasn’t it amusing to see The Scum implode so dramatically, as we celebrated St Totteringham’s Day at the end of the final match of the season, despite them thinking they’d pip Leicester to the title. But the reality of the situation since then is our pub chat has been dominated by “we’re just one or two short of competing for the title.”
Among my group of friends who regularly meet up at The Duchess of Kent on Liverpool Road, this phrase was no more acutely felt than during 2015-16.
In fact, one of the gentlemen in question still brings it up today. “Remember the summer we only signed Petr Cech, when we could have done with another striker?” he will regularly remind us, etched into his memory as if it was a conversation from last weekend.
SuburbanGoonerChris
We all remember. Of course Cech wasn’t the only signing that summer, but Jeff Reine-Adelaide, Vlad Dragomir, Jordi Osei-Tutu, Donyell Malen, Ismael Bennacer, before Mohamed Elneny in the January window, wasn’t exactly what we had in mind.
Why am I taking us through this trip down memory lane? Not to rake up old wounds of past glories we just missed out on, but to reflect on where we are now, and just how far we’ve come.
This summer we spent circa £100million on a left back/ centre back (Riccardo Calafiori), a central midfielder (Mikel Merino), we kept David Raya in goal and signed a multiple league-winning winger in Raheem Sterling to act as a backup (we’ve also got an experienced Brazilian backup ‘keeper too, just in case).
That has been layered on top of a team who last season got one of the highest points tallies in our history, scored the most goals in the Premier League and had the most miserly of defences.
In Mikel Arteta we’ve a manager whose ruthless ambition matches our own. We want the club to continue to pursue perfection (within the confines of the rules –Manchester-based/financially doped clubs, we’re looking at you), always improving, always trying to eke out every single marginal gain we can.
We may have only picked up one FA Cup in Arteta’s tenure so far, but he’s a winner and going to do everything in his power to get what he wants. And we love that. Because we’re all with him on that one.
I took my place in Block Five as usual for the start of this season for the opening game against Wolves.
Do you know what phrase I hadn’t heard in the couple of hours in the pub beforehand, or, as I greeted all of my fellow season ticket holders around me as I took to my seat? Yep, you guessed it, there was no “we’re one or two short” this time. Instead, that had been replaced with:
“This might be our year”.
Let’s hope so.
WHERE DOES ALL THE HATE COME FROM?
Ian Jenkinson attempts to figure out where all the negative bias originates from and how we can wriggle ourselves free of it, especially in terms of referees
Ireally try my best not to go down the route of conspiracy theories when it comes to referees and the PGMOL but with recent events it becomes harder and harder to ignore what seems like targeted bias against Arsenal. The same can be said of the media and rival fans.
So far this season Arsenal have had two players in Declan Rice and Leo Trossard sent off with second yellow cards for “delaying the restart” while William Saliba also received a yellow card for the same thing against Sp*rs.
I have witnessed at least a dozen incidents of rival players delaying the restart of a game in between those two red cards with almost none of them punished. So why Arsenal?
This might be a bit reductive to say but I am wholly convinced that Arsene Wenger’s (justified) remarks after West Brom were given a controversial late penalty in a 1-1 draw at the end of 2017 lit a fire under the PGMOL that still burns brightly today.
Ian Jenkinson @ArseCannonPics
Wenger said “I fought very hard for the referees to become professional but I see no improvement. There are two countries in Europe that have professional referees, Italy and England and not one English referee will go to the World Cup”.
I can only imagine the PGMOL meeting the following Monday as every official furiously sharpened their blade to stick into The Arsenal. To this day it still goes on and some of the decisions that go against Arsenal (and for other clubs) are unexplainable.
Wenger had a long and heated relationship with referees and the PGMOL. Could that relationship and this post match interview have done long term lasting damage to how our club is officiated?
Of course, there is an element of this situation we can control ourselves by not readily giving the referees ammunition. Like staying away from the ball when the referee blows his whistle.
We really need to be careful of this because we dropped four crucial points against Brighton and Manchester City from winning positions. Those points could prove massive come May.
Yes, both yellow cards were horrendously harsh but let’s not even give the refs a chance because they will take it. Now the media are jumping in too.
After the infamous “brawl” at Old Trafford in 1990 which saw Arsenal docked two points (didn’t stop us winning the league though) George Graham gave a speech to his players at London Colney, it is truly uncanny how relevant this is today.
Speaking of the media reaction Graham famously said: “The media are enjoying us getting all this stick but there is only one way to handle it, just keep winning matches. It seems fashionable to jump on the bandwagon and get into The Arsenal right now”.
Sound familiar? You can picture Mikel Arteta saying the exact same thing.
All this talk of dark arts too. It’s absolutely hilarious to me that this Arsenal team are being singled out when we have had teams like Stoke, Chelsea and Bolton doing far, far worse for years but it being labelled as fair game against Arsenal.
Literally all we’ve done last season and this season is execute excellent corner routines that (legally) nullify the opposition goalkeepers and defenders by creative movement and positioning. Oh, and we tried to defend a 2-1 lead away at our title rivals while down to 10 men for nearly an hour.
If that’s dark arts, then someone tell me what Manchester United’s performance against us at Old Trafford in the 50th game was? GBH I think it is called and not a murmur from the media back then either.
It is all so hypocritical and boring to see the backlash against Arsenal and to see serious media outlets chime in on it is incredibly disappointing. I really don’t care what they say
Therein lies the problem, just how do we actually fix this?
but one feels the constant and widespread propaganda does trickle into the referee’s consciousness and directly affects decisions and results.
And therein lies the problem, just how do we actually fix this?
I feel as a fan base we need to pour water on the negative flames and not drive engagement and clicks online when we are being dragged through the mud. As online fans the best thing we can do is simply ignore it all and just not engage with it.
We should also probably stop chanting “The referee’s a w**ker” in the stadium as that will do us absolutely no favours at all.
As for Arteta and the players, I think Arteta is playing it perfectly by not commenting on it and the players would do well to follow suit.
Let’s do our talking on the pitch, that’s where we are loudest and at our best.
KEIR STARMER: THE THINK-PIECE
Henry Waddon’s thought-provoking article on the PM watching Arsenal from a corporate box
Iknow,I know, I know. It’s something-ofnothing, it’s boring, it’s click-bait.
A politician has moved a couple of rows back at the Emirates, and might be offered the odd glass of bubbles as a result.
Why do we care? Let the news outlets and tabloids run all over it, but why do we, the ones on the terraces, need to lose any sleep?
The truth is that football is a political arena, whether we like it or not. While cabinet members may go on record and say “politics has no place in football”, football has undeniably carved out a place in politics.
At time of writing, we’re bearing witness to one of the most consequential legal proceedings in the history of the game, the outcomes of which have enormous, global political ramifications, both in the field of international relations, and within the game that we all love.
And, as Dr Clive Chijioke Nwonka’s brilliant new book ‘Black Arsenal: Club, Culture, Identity’ illustrates, football is a microcosmic arena which can inspire the most meaningful of social, cultural and political ideas.
And so where does Keir Starmer fit into all of this? Well, once the PR machine gets whirring, it’s never long before the beautiful game becomes, ironically enough, a ‘political football’.
And for those of us brought up and educated in the vocabulary of the sport, it’s very easy to sort the authentic wheat from the chancer chaff.
It conjures memories of New Labour exploiting the good vibrations of the endless summer of Euro ‘96, and of Tony Blair doing
YOU DON’T WANT
headers with Kevin Keegan in a car park somewhere. It also summons images of Prince William and David Cameron doing their best impressions of a football fan, with the latter occasionally getting confused over which claret-and-blue Premier League team he’d been briefed to feign an interest in.
All this to say, football is a language that so many of us speak. It’s a ready-made, beautiful source of commonality and connection with the people around us.
Tell me you haven’t been at a party, or at a new office, or at some non-descript gathering/ meeting/reception, and found yourself languishing in a conversational drought until the subject of football comes up, and suddenly there are new worlds to discuss, and brilliant, thoughtful, fascinating corners of your counterpart’s psyche to encounter.
And having a Prime Minister who truly understands football - who rocks up to fivea-side on a Thursday night and frequents the Emirates on a regular basis - does feel significant, whatever the doubters say.
Perhaps I’m romantic, but I think it speaks to a proximity to the general public, and an understanding of the tenets that govern their lives and their hopes.
So, while I cannot speak to the cost and complexity of organising the security detail of a Prime Minister (and how this differs to a Shadow Prime Minister), this does feel like an ‘open goal’ that’s been missed by Starmer and the party at large.
I think this decision easily feeds into a narrative of being out-of-touch and somehow disingenuous. It’s left-wing politics, but it isn’t
Henry Waddon @HenryWaddon
really. It’s the Labour Party, but it isn’t really. And now it’s football fanaticism... but it isn’t really.
Instead of being a terrace-goer, stood among like-minded, articulate, passionate voters, he’s now just another face in the corporate boxes, alongside your university mate’s dad, and the ball sponsor, and whoever else it is that has turned up to the Emirates this week to generate some ‘content’.
Amidst the decades-long commercialisation and gentrification of what was once workingclass theatre, amongst the relentless TikTokification of the fan-going experience, maybe Keir Starmer’s elevation to corporate box status is just another brick in the wall.
But, whilst his safety and protection is paramount, I can’t help but mourn what could have been an astonishing and unique statement; a Prime Minister partaking in the limbs that this incredible team continues to offer up to us.
Instead, he’ll have to watch it all happen with a glass -in-hand, as a moving part within a hypercommercial ‘matchday experience’. I suppose it’s coming for all of us in time, isn’t it?
Having a Prime Minister who truly understands football - who rocks up to five-a-side on a Thursday night and frequents the Emirates on a regular basis - does feel significant, whatever the doubters say
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, the morning after the North London derby: Still seething after yesterday.
I'm so angry I paid £31 (!) to get into London Zoo where I demanded to punch a possum, which at £31 is the very least I could expect.
After a brief exchange of views, they directed me toward the gift shop where the closest they could sell me was a koala, to which I gave a good stiff talking to, on account of security being on the lookout for a "mad Australian who looks like the Spurs manager, only madder."
Tuesday: I like that koala’s attitude. He took my straight-talking bollocking without any backchat, just as I would expect from a fellow Aussie. And because of that Skippy is going straight into the squad for Saturday.
When I told the lads at training, there were rumblings of discontent, with Solanke (last in,
first out mate) pissed off that he’s the one getting dropped “for a koala named after a kangaroo”.
After that completely un-australian outburst, he’s definitely dropped.
Wednesday: To Gaffer’s, the secret social club for Premier League managers, and it turns out that it’s their twice-yearly “North London is Red” party, to which I was somehow not invited.
Sitting in the corner, nursing a half of mild with my new pal Skippy, Arteta sportingly came over to condole after Sunday’s result.
“Don’t worry mate,” he said, “worse things happen at sea”. “Like what?” I asked, and he said “You could be on a cruise, the ship sinks, and you end up on your own on a desert island. Then one day, a message in a bottle washes up and it says NORTH LONDON IS RED, that’s what”. Then he ran away laughing.
The sad thing is that he’s right. That is the exact thing that happened to David Pleat. As well as the other thing.
Thursday: Took Skippy up West to see Diamond Lights, the Glenn Hoddle and Chris Waddle jukebox musical at the Palace Theatre, scored by Jah Wobble, the set built from a model.
After enjoying the first half (although I’d draw the line at performing Diamond Lights seven times), I was settling down for the climax when Mr Hoddle asked for a quiet word.
“Eileen Drewery says the man in 40D is a bad influence, and could you leave?” It turns out I was the man in 40D, so I was shown the street.
Skippy, in 40E, chose to stay however, the bloody traitor. He’s dropped, the leaf-munching marsupial bastard.
Friday: I arrive at our training ground “The Swamp”, in North London's last remaining area of swamp, to find chaos, blood, and screamingpretty much a normal Friday.
It turns out that Skippy - who was sold to me as a cute cuddly koala - was actually a Drop Bear, the koala’s invincible, bloodthirsty, bulletproof, berserker cousin.
Apparently, he had sneaked in overnight and laid low in the first team players’ lounge, which he knew would be a target-rich environment
come the morning, attacking with a dazzling fury with claws, teeth, and a rolled up programme for Diamond Lights at the Palace Theatre.
Heaven knows how I’m going to - quite literallypiece a team together for Saturday.
Saturday: By some miracle, our crack team of surgeons managed to cobble together eleven players for the match, which we only lost 37-0.
Everyone had two arms and two legs (apart from a bit of a cock-up on left midfield, of which I thought the opposition were rather unsporting to ruthlessly take advantage) for most of the match.
I’m assured that given the luxury of time everybody’s going to have their own limbs by next week, with a guarantee that most of them will also be the right way round.
Sunday: Back to London Zoo to complain about the faulty koala, where they pointed with a slightly chewed-off finger at a sign bearing the words “Drop Bears: Strictly No Refunds”.
Instead they gave me a cute little fella called a Mogwai (after the band, one presumes), with strict instructions not to get it wet nor to feed it after midnight.
I’ll be showing him to the team at Monday’s latenight swimming party and all-you-can-eat buffet.
What could possibly go wrong?
SHOCKING PROOF THAT THEY’RE NOT OUT TO GET US
The diary of a cursed Gooner
Here’s a conversation which almost certainly happened at some stage over the summer and pretty much summarises how well the Professional Game Match Officials Limited are handling the opening gambits of this season.
The Blazers at the FA: Hey The Kids! What would you like us to do to improve football?
Alistair Coleman @alistaircoleman
It’s the same every season - they’re told to enforce a new tweak to the laws, and they only ever enforce that one thing to the exclusion of anything else.
Remember when “possession of a pair of arms you cannot retract into your body when the ball comes at you at 90 miles per hour” was deemed intentional handball?
The Kids: How about you sort out VAR? It was only supposed to be for big gamechanging decisions, now it’s deciding if bootlaces can be offside
The Blazers at the FA: We hear you! So let’s start by sending people off for really petty reasons. How does that grab you?
The Kids: Yeah, that’s great thanks
That time we gave important match-changing decisions regarding offside to people who can’t draw a straight line? All of that and more.
You see, I once got sent off in a school match for standing on an opposition player’s untied bootlace, causing him to trip over and roll around in the mud like a 1980s version of Neymar. As I trudged off the pitch, too stunned to protest my innocence, Mr Prince, the games
teacher and referee, shouted after me “You dirty bastard, Coleman”, which I thought was a bit outside the remit of a referee to be perfectly honest. But that was it - to him I was a dirty bastard for my remaining two years at that particular suburban school, and I was not allowed to forget it (“What are you going to do this time, Coleman? Give him a wedgie?”).
VAR would have saved me, on a muddy school field, in the drizzle, in 1980.
On the other hand, I’m pretty certain that if we had VAR back in the 1980s, Charlie Nicholas’s glorious hair would have been permanently offside.
where I can make one up, right here right now to fuel your innermost paranoia.
And it is this: They’re not out to get us. They’re just trying to make it look like they’re out to get us purely to take the public’s attention away from the chemtrails in the sky, the New World Order, ULEZ and 15-minute cities, Erling Haaland being a shape-shifting alien whose natural form is a slab of meat, and the established fact* that Turkish Delight is dead people.
And you know where this is going. Twice so far this season (I write this after the Leicester match) we’ve experienced frankly questionable red cards for the latest official obsession which is kicking the ball away.
Your view of these incidents may vary depending on if you are an Arsenal fan (an outrage against everything we hold dear) or a fan of another team (then you are wrong in every way imaginable), but I think we are all agreed that we are the victim of an evidencefree plot against Arsenal Football Club.
Now, people (who are wrong in every way imaginable) might think that this has the makings of a conspiracy theory.
And you’d be right, and you’d be totally surprised to hear that I am (genuinely) an expert on conspiracy theories, putting me in a position
The World Economic Forum, through its agents at the PGMOL, are deliberately stoking our RAGE so that we don’t notice what’s really happening: They’ve got rid of the red Bounty Bars and Brannigan’s Roast Beef and Mustard crisps and no-one has noticed.
Also, some other evil stuff.
You would be excused for missing their trial run on this a few years back, when those illuminati rogues manufactured that “headers and volleys only” rule in snooker, and BOOM! Spangles disappeared, Marathon bars became Snickers, and Harry Maguire was always first on the England teamsheet.
They’re laughing at us, people. Do your own research before it’s too late.
Also, we can beat these curs by simply not getting sent off for stupid shit. That’s probably worth a try, too.
*complete and utter lie
DIAL SQUARE DIARY
THE SQUARE ROUTE OF SUCCESS
November will mark a significant time in the calendar for non-League Dial Square. Why? Well, the last time they lost a league tie at home was almost two years ago.
That’s right, the last time Dial Square lost at Alwyns Lane was on November 26, 2022 against Manorcroft United.
Since then, the club founded by Arsenal fans – which draws its name and sentiment from The Gunners’ humble beginnings, is fast becoming the blueprint for others to aspire to.
Formed in 2020, the Chertsey-based club has been promoted every competitive season and is now flying high in the Surrey Premier County Football League (step 7) – a feeder league to the National League System (steps 1-6).
So, how have they done it?
While running a football club may not be for the faint-hearted, having a clear plan, coherent communication, and a mechanism to enable the club to stand on its own two feet is all part of the club chairman Tony Hurley’s masterplan.
season. The non-leaguers have now issued a total of 880,000 shares to 100-fan owners from across the world.
On-the-field, Dial continue to gain the plaudits, winning six of their opening seven games and riding high at the top of the table at the time of The Gooner going to print.
Furthermore, Dial Square striker Harry Rice scored the club’s fastest ever hat-trick against Battersea Ironsides on 30 September in a time of four minutes and 42 seconds. It meant that Rice had scored an incredible 56 goals in 40 league & cup appearances since September 2, 2023.
Now, with six hat-tricks already under his belt, Rice is now chasing down Ian Wright’s all-time record of 11 hat-tricks, which the Arsenal legend netted during his seven years at Highbury.
Next time Arsenal do not have a Saturday game, why not pop down to Chertsey to support The Dial.
For more information on Dial Square, go to www.dialsquarefc.com.
#ByTheFansForTheFans
In July 2023, Hurley launched a bold share purchase opportunity to enable supporters to become registered fan-owners of Dial Square Football Club Limited.
Within a six-week window, the club received 74 applications for 190,000 shares to cover their operating costs for groundsharing with Chertsey Town. Following the success of the first share purchase opportunity, Dial extended the offer to more fans in July 2024.
Despite being seven levels below the English Football League, they received applications for 440,000 new shares to put the club on a sound footing for the 2024-25
Gold Subscribers’ Hall of Fame
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Super Sub: Frank Stubbs pt2
Best ground apart from Highbury?
The Sofi Stadium out in the Los Angeles is by some distance the most incredible sporting arena I have ever been to.
I really have a soft spot for the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff too. Great views, fantastic atmosphere, smack bang in the middle of the city and numerous wonderful memories.
If I'm forced to pick one of the more 'regular' destinations however, I'd probably pick Newcastle. As for the Emirates, it isn't and never will be Highbury. I believe we need to accept that and move on. And I don't think there is a Premier League ground in the country where the atmosphere is consistently better than ours right now.
Worst ground apart from WHL?
Those of us who remember them all will all have soft spots for the 'traditional' older stadia. But, although the atmosphere is decent, those facilities and that view at Selhurst Park that very much used to be the norm, is awful.
I used to hate Stamford Bridge before it was rebuilt and I remember particularly hating Oldham's Boundary Park back in the day too. I also hate going to both Manchester grounds.
The second part of Frank's brilliant, mustread Q&A on his life supporting The Arsenal
Sum up the Gooner Fanzine
In a computer and social media based age that has become the norm, I believe picking up a book, a magazine or in this case a fanzine has become more important than ever.
Written by passionate Arsenal fans, it talks 'our' language. I believe both the matchday programme and The Gooner are as essential in your supporting routine as your pre-match refreshment and banter with your mates.
How's the book going?
In all honesty, it's not! I have written notes on my Arsenal supporting life going back 35 years now (25 of those being in my arsenal.com diary and following blog that I still write to this day) and many have encouraged me to put that into a book.
There are dozens of Arsenal related fan based books out there now, so it's finding that 'niche' that hasn't been done before.
I went to my first European away game back in the early 90s and have travelled the globe ever since, so maybe something along those lines would work.
What's been your highlight under Mikel Arteta's management so far?
Definitely bringing the whole club together, on and off the pitch. I am not naive enough to realise that all fans are fickle and results and performances dictate the overall situation but we are definitely stronger in unity. Or 'harmony' of course.
I believe Mikel deserves huge credit for that.
Tell us a random fact about yourself
I am a massive model railway fan with a huge layout (under construction) in my basement. Think Rod Stewart without the money or hair.
Please do take a look at Stubbsy’s very excellent blog on www.stubbsytours.wordpress.com or follow him on X (Twitter) @stubbsy70 as he’d love to know what anybody thinks
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
