So that’s that then. Another season done and dusted although the only thing dusted were Sp*ds passports after many years in the drawer. I’d like to congratulate Sp*ds on winning the Champions League, World Cup, Boat race, Grand National and Britain’s got Talent .......... Sorry? What? They’ve won nothing? I assumed they’d had a massive win what with all those people walking around North London with a Cock & Ball on their shirts.
And there you have it. We finish 3rd and are a bit upset. They finish 4th and win manager of the year. I feel we have finished where we deserve to be. We are not as good as the two above us but we are better than everyone else. Third is our rightful place but not by much. With a fit Van Persie and a goalkeeper worthy of the name we’d be right in the mix. We all know where we need additions and it sounds like, for the first time since our move, Arsene has the funds.
Last season was a disappointment but it’s a measure of our aspirations and it’s our manager that has raised them. He’s a victim of his own success. The Unbeatables were the pinnacle. How do we reach such heights? Arsene is trying and I appreciate that. How do we compete with these classless, historyless midtable clubs who are pumped full of money and buy trophies? We move to a big stadium, we follow a strict business plan to deal with the debt that move brings, we play decent football and we keep the fans happy. Unfortunately to achieve the latter we need a trophy soon.
However, what is success? When i started watching The Arsenal any trophy led to an open top bus tour but football has changed. Would we be happier with an FA Cup win and a fifth place finish? A season without Champions league! Imagine that! It’s all about the money. It’s all about the Champion’s league. That’s the clubs view (see how Spu*s reacted to finishing 4th and winning nothing.) If we as fans had the clubs views of success we might not feel quite so deflated by our success.
(Fantastic video on YouTube that sums up our season. It's been superbly put together. Great work. http://www.youtube.com/user/charmdes)
Friday, 14 May 2010
Sunday, 2 May 2010
#MessiToArsenal
What do you do with yourself if you have no interest in football? There are people like this all around us. Ive seen them myself. They don’t organise their year around the fixture list. They don’t sit at the back at weddings listening to the radio or checking their phone every minute. They don’t do 100-500 mile round trips to stand or sit in the cold to, maybe, see no goals. They have nothing to say to strangers!
Yesterday I was unfortunate enough to have a brief insight into this hollow world. Arsenal have two post season friendlies to see out and one of them is deemed important enough to televise last thing on a bank holiday weekend. No Arsenal interest yesterday. Usually I have a fall back with watching or following Cambridge City while I wait for The Arsenal but their season finished last week. There was nothing to get excited about. It was a horrible look into the summer abyss!
It was this nightmare vision that led me to Twitter yesterday. It started with the man from EastLower complaining about boredom and yearning for the new fixtures but worried about the 900,000 column inches of 'Cesc to Barca' rumours that will come before. It struck me that we should start our own rumours and who better to annoy than Barca themselves. If all the twitter Gooners ended every tweet with #MessiToArsenal it would make a point that we are sick of Barca looking down on us and unsettling any player they please. It will, of course, achieve nothing but it was great fun.
Messi has Arsenal in his blood. Well he has red blood doesn’t he? #MessiToArsenal
Silvestre dreams of Barca move. Swap deal on cards. #MessiToArsenal
Barca chairman says Arsenal don’t need Messi and he wouldn’t get in team anyway. Messi Upset. #MessiToArsenal
You get the idea. It soon transformed into having a pop at everyone else.
Messi dreams of linking up with Almunia. #MessiToScunthorpe
Messi wants to be known as a massive C**t. #Messi ToSp*rs
Messi doesn’t like big crowds. #MessiToChavscum
Great fun and it kept many of us amused for a day in footballing no man’s land. The game tomorrow means nothing! We still need a point to get 3rd but the excitement has gone. We are like people who live without football.
But we’re not are we?
Tomorrow we will mould our day around that 5pm kick off. We will be next to the pitch, a TV, radio, internet stream or mobile phone wherever we are in the world. We will shout at goalkeeping errors. We will cheer our goals. We will celebrate St Totts day like a cup win. A nothing game? Only someone with no interest in football would say that. And remember if you read it enough it must be true ..... #MessiToArsenal
Yesterday I was unfortunate enough to have a brief insight into this hollow world. Arsenal have two post season friendlies to see out and one of them is deemed important enough to televise last thing on a bank holiday weekend. No Arsenal interest yesterday. Usually I have a fall back with watching or following Cambridge City while I wait for The Arsenal but their season finished last week. There was nothing to get excited about. It was a horrible look into the summer abyss!
It was this nightmare vision that led me to Twitter yesterday. It started with the man from EastLower complaining about boredom and yearning for the new fixtures but worried about the 900,000 column inches of 'Cesc to Barca' rumours that will come before. It struck me that we should start our own rumours and who better to annoy than Barca themselves. If all the twitter Gooners ended every tweet with #MessiToArsenal it would make a point that we are sick of Barca looking down on us and unsettling any player they please. It will, of course, achieve nothing but it was great fun.
Messi has Arsenal in his blood. Well he has red blood doesn’t he? #MessiToArsenal
Silvestre dreams of Barca move. Swap deal on cards. #MessiToArsenal
Barca chairman says Arsenal don’t need Messi and he wouldn’t get in team anyway. Messi Upset. #MessiToArsenal
You get the idea. It soon transformed into having a pop at everyone else.
Messi dreams of linking up with Almunia. #MessiToScunthorpe
Messi wants to be known as a massive C**t. #Messi ToSp*rs
Messi doesn’t like big crowds. #MessiToChavscum
Great fun and it kept many of us amused for a day in footballing no man’s land. The game tomorrow means nothing! We still need a point to get 3rd but the excitement has gone. We are like people who live without football.
But we’re not are we?
Tomorrow we will mould our day around that 5pm kick off. We will be next to the pitch, a TV, radio, internet stream or mobile phone wherever we are in the world. We will shout at goalkeeping errors. We will cheer our goals. We will celebrate St Totts day like a cup win. A nothing game? Only someone with no interest in football would say that. And remember if you read it enough it must be true ..... #MessiToArsenal
Sunday, 25 April 2010
Disappointed of Islington
Disappointed. We hear that word a lot as football fans. It covers all bases. When we lost to Barcelona in Paris in 2006 we were disappointed. When we lost to Messi this season it was a disappointing performance. Ryan Shawcross was disappointed by his assault on Ramsey. Their manager was disappointed by Arsene's comments! 'Disappoint' is not a word we fans use. We prefer gutted, annoyed, shocked....However we say it disappointment seems to be the main course for us fans more often than not.
My week was disappointing. It started with The Arsenal disappointing me at Wigan. That defeat left me gutted, shocked, annoyed..... So my attention turned to my mistress Cambridge City. Light relief from The Wife in red and white. City are in the Zameretto Premier League (two below the conference) with average attendances of just over 200. They are run and owned by the fans and have to leave their ground at the end of next season and play their home games 15 miles outside the city. They are skint. They have a squad of 16. They have an excellent manager and a hardcore of passionate fans. My dad took me there at an early age and it was the football team we shared. When I watch City I feel close to him and follow them in his memory.
Cambridge City had 3 games left in 6 days. They were in a great position to reach the play offs. Tuesday - Lost to Chippenham. Thursday - Beat Hemel Hempstead (a great away trip with my son.) Saturday - Last home game of the season vs Hednesford. Winner takes all. Winner gets a play off place. City lose 3-0. Gutted. Disappointed.
Dash back to London for the Man City game. Lee Dixon on the radio says at half time he doesn't want to return for the second half. He was disappointed with Arsenal's performance but more so with man city. All that money spent and they were told by their floppy haired, odd scarf wearing, more glamorous than Hughes but not really any better, manager to make no attempt to beat a very beatable Arsenal. MOTD highlights were about 45 seconds long and that included laughing at Greedybayor who had come dressed as Shirley Temple. 60,000 people in the ground and 10's of others watching ESPN were left disappointed. I hope Chavscum (North) miss out on the Champions League by a point. That'll teach 'em to be scared of flapianski and Mickey Silver.
I hope Sp*rs get 4th! There, I said it & I will tell you why. All summer they will be releasing DVDs and telling everyone who will listen that they have made it. They are finally a big club. Then they will lose to Trumpton and Chigley Town in the qualifiers and then we can have a massive laugh. If they do squeeze past the Women's Guild in the qualifiers they will be royally rogered by one and all in the groups. The group stages are full of whipping boys. Step forward Sp*ds!
So Cambridge City have shut up shop until August. Arsenal can't wait to go on holiday. It's end of term. Let's all bring board (Bored?) games to the Fulham match. Roll on World cup so I can be disappointed all over again by England.
My week was disappointing. It started with The Arsenal disappointing me at Wigan. That defeat left me gutted, shocked, annoyed..... So my attention turned to my mistress Cambridge City. Light relief from The Wife in red and white. City are in the Zameretto Premier League (two below the conference) with average attendances of just over 200. They are run and owned by the fans and have to leave their ground at the end of next season and play their home games 15 miles outside the city. They are skint. They have a squad of 16. They have an excellent manager and a hardcore of passionate fans. My dad took me there at an early age and it was the football team we shared. When I watch City I feel close to him and follow them in his memory.
Cambridge City had 3 games left in 6 days. They were in a great position to reach the play offs. Tuesday - Lost to Chippenham. Thursday - Beat Hemel Hempstead (a great away trip with my son.) Saturday - Last home game of the season vs Hednesford. Winner takes all. Winner gets a play off place. City lose 3-0. Gutted. Disappointed.
Dash back to London for the Man City game. Lee Dixon on the radio says at half time he doesn't want to return for the second half. He was disappointed with Arsenal's performance but more so with man city. All that money spent and they were told by their floppy haired, odd scarf wearing, more glamorous than Hughes but not really any better, manager to make no attempt to beat a very beatable Arsenal. MOTD highlights were about 45 seconds long and that included laughing at Greedybayor who had come dressed as Shirley Temple. 60,000 people in the ground and 10's of others watching ESPN were left disappointed. I hope Chavscum (North) miss out on the Champions League by a point. That'll teach 'em to be scared of flapianski and Mickey Silver.
I hope Sp*rs get 4th! There, I said it & I will tell you why. All summer they will be releasing DVDs and telling everyone who will listen that they have made it. They are finally a big club. Then they will lose to Trumpton and Chigley Town in the qualifiers and then we can have a massive laugh. If they do squeeze past the Women's Guild in the qualifiers they will be royally rogered by one and all in the groups. The group stages are full of whipping boys. Step forward Sp*ds!
So Cambridge City have shut up shop until August. Arsenal can't wait to go on holiday. It's end of term. Let's all bring board (Bored?) games to the Fulham match. Roll on World cup so I can be disappointed all over again by England.
Sunday, 18 April 2010
No WiCan't
I'm sure the smart advice from seasoned bloggers after a match like that is to wait before you put your thoughts out there for all to see but I'm new to this. The other thing is my thoughts won't be radical and full of blood lust but those of a fan who can see what's wrong and hopes it can be fixed. Stop me if I state the bleedin' obvious!
It is hard to judge this team as it's not our first team. Having said that, any team 2-0 up with less than 10 minutes to go have to fall to quite low depths of crapness to even draw let alone lose. If ever there was a better example of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory I'm not sure i know when it happened.
I hate using injuries as an excuse but it's all we've got. One area where we don't have injuries is in the goalkeeper department. Unfortunately they have been struck down with a bad dose of crapitis. Today our first choice, who should be our second choice, was dropped for our third choice with some people shouting for our forth choice to be our first. If anything positive comes out of today it will be a shiny new goalie full of confidence who can catch a ball. I'm so depressed by our goalkeepers anyone with a working set of gloves will do for me.
Almunia clearly had been dropped today to see what Flapianski could do and he fluffed his lines big time and proved to us all his nickname is well deserved.
I think the boy on loan who's name I'm not even going to try should be moved to reserve with an new man coming in. Manuel Faulty and Flapianski should be thanked, given a voucher for the club shop and moved on. Enough is enough.
I don't have the energy after that to talk about the rest of the team although I thought Eastmont did OK for such a young man and my Twitter about giving Silvestre another 3 years after his goal was a JOKE!
We now need to get to the end of the season the best we can. Man City and Blackburn won't be easy while I'm starting to hope Fulham get to the UEFA cup final so they go easy on us.
Chins up Gooners. The first date of Silvestre's farewell tour was off key but progress has been made, we can't see injuries this bad again (can we?) and there is money in the kitty. August can't come quickly enough!!
Saturday, 17 April 2010
AW Management is Proud to Present ....
Mikael Silvestre
The Farewell Tour
Limited Dates
18 April Wigan
24 April London - SOLD OUT
3 May Blackburn
9 May London - SOLD OUT
15 May Wembley - Cancelled
22 May Madrid - Cancelled
The Farewell Tour
Limited Dates
18 April Wigan
24 April London - SOLD OUT
3 May Blackburn
9 May London - SOLD OUT
15 May Wembley - Cancelled
22 May Madrid - Cancelled
Friday, 16 April 2010
Can We Do It? Yes Wigan!
Right, they had their day in the sun. A child scored a fluke, an extra from the Planet of the Apes scored their second and they can all run out and spend their money on a commemorative DVD. Big Club?
I sent a text to a Sp*rs friend of mine asking if he will be purchasing the DVD titled 'Once A Decade.' He replied, "No but I will be buying the DVD 'You've made our season!' Really? A home win against a very understrength Arsenal makes their season? Did anyone leave New Highbury in October when we turned them over 3-0 saying "That's made my season?" Certainly not and we didn't even get the opportunity to relive it time and again with an official DVD. Then again, that game wasn't our cup final!
Anyway, we need to move on and win these last 4 games 'just in case' as Goonerholic puts it on the Arsecast. You never know but all we can do is win all the remaining games on the Silvestre farewell tour. The main news between now and Fulham will be the availability of players and it looks bad. The latest list looks like this.
1. Almunia (Glove Rot)
2. Diaby (Thought this game was on Saturday and is meeting mates)
3. Sagna (Hair appointment he just can't change)
4. Cesc (Broken)
5. Vermaelen (Calf Problem)
6. Senderos (Apparently not as good as Silvestre)
7. Rosicky (Got sick in his name)
8. Nasri (Going down Westfield with Fran)
9. Edwardo (Misplaced his bottle)
10. Gallas (Annoying leg strain)
11. Van Persie (Fit! He's FIT!)
12. Vela (Stuck at an airport, covered in ash, with no passport)
14. Walcott (Mum forgot to pack his boots or shorts)
15. Denilson (Groin)
16. Ramsey (Assaulted by a thug)
17. Song (Bad Knee)
18.Silvestre (The relentless passage of time)
19. Wilshire (Being held hostage in the north)
21. Fabianski (Strained facial hair)
20. Djourou (Security won't let him in anymore)
22. Clichy (Sunday lunch at his girlfriend's parents)
23. Arshavin (Calf problem)
27. Eboue (Tinkerbellitis)
28. Gibbs (Not finished holiday homework and it's due in on Monday)
31. Campbell (Knackered from playing on his own last Wednesday)
32. Merida (Going down Westfield with Samir)
52. Bendner (My son thinks he is rubbish)
So there you have it. One available player. Lucky for us one of our prospective Chairmen sent the boys round to the FA so now,apparently, we can play anyone who has ever sported the famous red with white sleeves. My guess is our team will be:
1. Rhys Wilmott
2. Gus Caeser
3. Pal Lyderson
4. Kwame Ampadu
5. Colin Pates
6. Chris Whyte
7. Richie Poweling
8. Steve Williams
9. Lee Chapman
10. Vladimir Petrovic
11. Robin Van Persie
Subs
13. Alan Miller
14. Alberto Mendez
15. David Price
16. Willie Young
17. Raphael Meade
18. Kaba Diawara
19. Siggi Jonsson
Needs must.
Hillsborough 1989
Yesterday afternoon my mind wandered. I was on a pitch and putt golf course overlooking the sea with my kids yet my thoughts were at Highbury. At that moment, 21 years ago I knew where I was.
I was sitting in the West Stand Upper tier near the Clock End watching Arsenal play Newcastle. I think Kenny Sansom was playing for them and we won 1-0. I don't remember who scored for us. Very early in the game people started to talk about the FA Cup semi final in Sheffield. These were the days before everyone having internet in their pocket so the news was sketchy. It started off with talk of fighting. Not too ususual in those days. later we heard the game had been postponed. Very unusual in those days. Then we heard of people being badly hurt but that's all we knew in our ground.
It wasn't until we got home that the full horror of that day was known. There we were in our beautiful stadium enjoying an Arsenal win while other supporters, supporters just like us, were herded into pens. Football fans dying inside a football ground. 96 went to support their team, just like us, but didn't return home.
So as I was being soundly beaten by two children on a holiday golf course my thoughts turned to that day 21 years ago and to the families and friends of the 96 who, just like us, just went to support their team. Rest In Peace.
I was sitting in the West Stand Upper tier near the Clock End watching Arsenal play Newcastle. I think Kenny Sansom was playing for them and we won 1-0. I don't remember who scored for us. Very early in the game people started to talk about the FA Cup semi final in Sheffield. These were the days before everyone having internet in their pocket so the news was sketchy. It started off with talk of fighting. Not too ususual in those days. later we heard the game had been postponed. Very unusual in those days. Then we heard of people being badly hurt but that's all we knew in our ground.
It wasn't until we got home that the full horror of that day was known. There we were in our beautiful stadium enjoying an Arsenal win while other supporters, supporters just like us, were herded into pens. Football fans dying inside a football ground. 96 went to support their team, just like us, but didn't return home.
So as I was being soundly beaten by two children on a holiday golf course my thoughts turned to that day 21 years ago and to the families and friends of the 96 who, just like us, just went to support their team. Rest In Peace.
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