By Tony Attwood
We live in a world in which all major western cities are on total alert against terror attacks. Except in seems in London. For last night we had an outbreak of much lower level (but still dangerous and still unlawful) misbehaviour, which was announced a week in advance, and Arsenal did not have the slightest idea what to do or how to do it.
We are told by email before each match to get to the ground an hour early for our own safety and security. We are checked twice before being allowed to enter the ground. Except last night… no. No checking of anything except a requirement outside my regular entrance to see my season ticket.
And even then it wasn’t checked – I had my AISA membership wallet (in which I keep my season ticket) in my hand and was waved through on the basis of that. No checking of my fairly voluminous winter coat which had protected me from the downpours earlier.
This attempt by large numbers of of Cologne supporters to enter all sectors of the ground without or with tickets was headlined in the newspapers ten days ago. And yet even with all that warning, Arsenal still were not ready. And perhaps I might point out to Arsenal, most terror cells that I have read about don’t actually give a 10 day warning of where and when they are going to attack.
In simple terms: if you can’t cope with what happened last night (and you clearly could not) what chance do we have of you coping with a terror incident?
Now I must admit, when Untold covered the story we rather dismissive of it about a week ago. The club say that no one who buys a membership for Arsenal AFTER the release of the group stage list is able to buy a ticket for a European match. And I was stupid enough to believe that, so that is what we said.
I also hoped that after events in recent years with some away fans causing problems near the ground at Euro matches, lessons would have been learned. But no. Not a chance.
But the fact is that in little Untold, run by a group of volunteers with no official connection with the club, and just a collection of season tickets and silver memberships between us, we knew all about the threat of thousands of people without tickets attempting to get into the ground, and thousands actually getting into all parts of the ground. How come Arsenal didn’t?
In short, if you can’t deal with an incident which is posted in all the newspapers before the event, how in hell will you ever cope with an actual terror event? Or even some nasty away fans at a regular league match who sneak things into the ground?
For about seven years Untold has been criticising the lack of serious control of away supporters intent on misbehaviour. The fact that Tottenham fans were able to throw objects unchallenged at Theo and the ambulance crew when he was injured near the away end showed how inept the control is. The fact that flares now seem to be a regular accompaniment to matches for some clubs.
We’ve even told Arsenal how to do it: just say to clubs, if any of your supporters cause any problem with throwing objects or flares or smoke bombs we’ll cut in half the number of your fans who can be accepted into the ground next time around. I’m not saying they should accept our idea, but at least it is a workable idea. If they have a better one fine, but at the moment it seems that they have no idea.
Because of this lackadaisical approach to security Uefa will now investigate Arsenal, and the people who will suffer will most likely to those of us who have never ever caused any problem at all. The one thing we have going in our favour is that it is Uefa who will investigate, and they are so inept they’ll probably send a delegation to Newcastle.
At least Mr Wenger noticed those of us in the ground saying, “Our supporters dealt well with the situation and I hope that nothing happens after the game.”
Yes, Arsenal, you are totally and absolutely in debt to Arsenal fans who accepted the chaos and inability of the club to act with the police in relation to a threat that you knew about a week before the match.
According to reports in the media (which of course is all I have to go on) there were 110 police officers listed as being on duty and “extra stewards”. But that latter is a total laugh, there were none that I could see, and the two barriers I had to pass through were manned in the normal way – although with less assiduous checking – we were just waved through without any attempt to check for concealed weapons, flares or anything else.
In the end the only thing the club seemed to do was to move some Arsenal supporters out of the clock end – far too little too late. When the Cologne goal went in many of us were looking to the stewards to clear the away support from the wrong areas, but they stood there looking helpless. They seemingly had no instructions.
And of course there were flares, flares and flares. The first one went off inside a couple of minutes. Apparently Arsenal is fined €500 per flare under Uefa regulations. They can’t say we haven’t been warning them.
I want to repeat; the story of this chaos was doing the rounds a week ago. If Arsenal cannot cope with disorder announced in advance, how on earth are we supposed to believe they have any idea how to deal with a terror attack?
- Arsenal move into the London Combination in September 1915
- Arsenal v Cologne: The teams, the Jack talk, the growth of penalties in Europe.
Completely agree. I was in the Clock End last night surrounded by hundreds of cologne supporters. After waiting for ages for them to open the turnstiles I was amazed that the stewards,who could see and hear from the singing that the vast majority of fans were cologne fans coming into a designated home area, performed no security checks. Unlike Bournemouth on Saturday there was no bag search, no pat down. I was just allowed to walk straight through to the turnstile.
A question for me is why paper or e-tickets were issued, which must increase the risk of touting. For other games my membership card is the ticket. Why not for last night? For which I was sent a paper ticket.
I was at the game last night. I used to work as a steward at Arsenal until 2 seasons ago in the response teams that had to deal with crowd issues, so I feel I am able to reply in a knowledgeable way!
The areas surrounding the ground are public areas, therefor coming under the control of the local authority & the police, not under the control of the club. The only area under DIRECT control of the club is from the turnstiles in.
The issues began last night with Koln supporters marching down the middle of Holloway road, not stopped by the police but escorted so as not to create any public disorder. On arrival, they dispersed into small groups going different ways & meeting on the upper concourse. T that point outside the away section a group attempted to break through the turnstiles using barriers that were in place, gaining entry into the ground & attacked stewards. As more & more appeared on the podium level trying to gain entry, police called for extra reinforcements & had support vehicles locking off areas of the podium to attempt to regain control. At that point, the decision to delay the game was made in the interests of safety. When I got into the ground (I have season tickets for North Bank upper tier, but for this game I was in Club Level & my son had our tickets), I was stunned by the amount of Koln supporters that were actually in the ground. That said, during the game I only saw two incidents below me where a scuffle took place with German fans sitting in the home area, which were efficiently dealt with by stewards.
Being a steward is a thankless task, we (sorry they) are there to help BUT you’d be suprised at the attitude of people! I had an incident where we were dealing with supporter who was having a heart attack & the people around him…”get out of the way we cant see the game”.
After the attacks in Paris when safety checks were increased… “whay are you doing theses stupid checks? you’re making me late for the game”.
Dont knock the Stewards, they are doing what they can in a stressful environment… & rember, they do it voluntarily
Tony,
I agree with you that, relating it as you do, there is some serious re-thinking to be done.
However, I saw last night a few images of thousands of Cologne fans going through London, and there I just don’t get it.
I mean, they must have come in some way : plane, train, bus ? These must have been full since the game was announced.
Now, London is on a island. There are ID checks, immigration infrastructure to go through
So the british security apparatus should have been aware – or maybe anything german is not considered a threat ?
Which leaves me the question of how in the world these thousands of fans (I’ve read the figure 20’000 plus a few times and heard it on german TV) were able to go where they wanted ? To their credit, so far I have not heard any horror stories of rampaging, rape and aggression, so maybe they were just happy to be back in European competition after all.
Still, sure enough Arsenal are at fault, but it seems to me the buck does not stop here and some inquiry has to be made into the way authorities and the security apparatus handled. I wonder what they told Arsenal : don’t worry, no one is coming, who cares about Arsenal anyway ? Or that the few who would make it out of the Eurostar would be sent back like illegal immigrants ?
I mean had they been as efficient in 1940, Arsenal may be playing in the Bundesliga ;=))
And I wonder if the leniency you talked about was, to some extent, in the end the way to avoid mass conflict ? Just let them in and hope they’ll behave ?
Apart from that, I did not hear/read much about them fans being violent or a total nuisance, or were they ?
A reporter on BBC TV news said (this morning) that there were reports of tickets being put on general sale. Not just to membership supporters, but anyone who cared to want a ticket. If that’s true, and with previous knowledge of 20000 Cologne fans turning up, then Arsenal deserve the harshest of punishments allowed for this situation.
Also, why only allow 2500 tickets in the first place. I’ve heard of situations where 10000 seats could be made available if necessary. I wasn’t at the game, but saw on TV that apart from the flares the Cologne supporters seemed quite well behaved and just interested in a good loud time.
Reading here and there about it, there is one issue that just does not register with me : there were 20’000 plus Cologne fans and they bought actual tickets.
I mean that is 20’000 times a purchase operation, online or at the entry of the stadium, or 200 times one person buying 100 tickets.
Something is just not right there.
And why in the world only 3’000 away tickets were issued ?
The other issue that leaves me thinking is a legal one. What jurisdiction has the authority to tell a german person she is 1) not allowed to travel to London 2) Not allowed to go to Islington 3) not allowed to go to the Emirates stadium 4) not allowed to rightfully purchase a ticket and watch a soccer game ? Why would Mr Muller and his 10 year old son NOT be allowed entry to the Emirates ? What law is this based upon ? On what ground would such a person be refused a ticket ? You sound german ? You look german ? You have a white/red scarf (Cologne colours by the way) ? You look too blond to be british ? You are a Spurs fan ? As long as the person behaved, what is the issue ?
I am fully aware of the ‘hooligan’ issue. But this is a minority. There comes a point where individual liberties, guaranteed by each european countries’ constitutions and by the european union ought to be respected or am I wrong ?
The accountant in me has another question by the way….
Had these 20’00 fans of Cologne not come, does this mean there’d have been as many empty seats at the Emirates ? And less money in Arsenal’s and UEFA’s bann accounts (how do they split by the way) ? Or to put the question differently : who profited from the crime ?
From my observation point in the upper tier I’m pretty sure that there was nothing like 20000 Cologne fans inside the stadium. My estimate would be half that at most.
All of them must have had a ‘legal’ ticket in order to get through the turnstile and if the system of not selling to late membership buyers held firm then I’m afraid it could well be down to touts (who probably own multiple memberships anyway) or Arsenal fans who regularly offload their tickets when the match is on TV. European games regularly have lots of new faces around where I sit and I assume that is thanks to the official ticket recycling system.
Some visiting fans sitting near me had their paper ticket taken from them by a steward so that it’s source could be checked. Hopefully other stewards did the same. Under great pressure (not least from irate Arsenal fans) our stewards, backed up latterly by policemen, coped very well I thought.
The problem was not one of a small ‘terrorist cell’ infiltrating the ground for ill purpose. The problem was of vast numbers of fans from another country turning up and causing problems throughout London all day. Postponing the match by, say, 24hrs, merely prolongs those problems. Delaying it gave the authorities time to assess the situation and come up with a plan which for the vast majority of people worked well enough. I witnessed no physical violence at all and if Cologne had not scored first I can quite imagine that the agitation levels amongst Arsenal fans would have been diminished – except of course amongst those who would start a fight in an empty room. And they come to most games anyway ad often cause aggravation to their fellow fans on a regular basis.
I’m not defending the Club who obviously did hings wrong – but the circumstances were extremely unusual and until ticketless (or illegally ticketed) fans actually turned up on the night they had little idea of the nature of the problem that faced them.
Not being able to search fans for flares remains a lasting bugbear and that in the end is for EUFA to solve by requiring that no allocation at all is given for a period of time.
Alway supporters out sang the home support! A bit shameful really.
The key to all of this is organised corruption. The e tickets opened the doors to sale of tickets to unknowns. Whoever made that decision should be jailed for 6 months. There was no PA system to advise fans outside the stadium of the status and why the gates were closed.
The FA are the ultimate responsible authority for this chaos. They pick up fortunes for late night games, without any consideration to young supporters. Arsenal have also a part to play in that Junior Gunners are forced to sell their seats because they have school to attend the next morning. An hours delay destroys the journey home, particularly where trains are limited between midnight & 5am.
The flares if not detected because of bulk entry, must be sprayed with water jets that can easily be positioned in the away end in readiness. The dousing of collateral fans will be a lesson to them to ‘out’ the perpetrators. The season ticket holders/ red members that have had their seats compromised should be banned for 3 years with no refund, & put to the bottom of the waiting lists.
UEFA must now make an example of Cologne and their fans by banning them from European competition for 3 years. Arsenal must also be penalised but the fans must not have to take any blame as their behaviour was impeccable considering the most intimidating atmosphere.
The football is secondary but Oospina needs to realise that his poor positioning together with a defence that forgets where the goal is need to be more vigilant.
“The key to all of this is organised corruption. The e tickets opened the doors to sale of tickets to unknowns.”
Menace, here is a slightly related story.
When I was a student, I used to go back to my hometown once in a month or two. Two days before Eid, I bought a bus ticket for a 220-mile trip to my hometown so that I could spend some time with my family. Now, the bus had 78 places but the bus company obviously sold 84 tickets for the trip. How did I know? Well, I was either sitting on the floor or standing all the way to my place with five more passengers.
Which leads me to the whole point: we live in a world where the most important thing is to get money for whatever you sell. The media with all click-bait articles that earn money via number of hits on their fake news have become the virtual prostitutes.
Sell, sell, sell! That’s the whole point.
I’m not particularly meaning to knock the stewards, and you might recall that a while back I took up an article praising a steward who, on being told by myself of a person who had apparently passed out with a crowd passing around, instantly came with me and helped.
My point is however the that check on leaving the street by a double line of stewards an entering the area around the ground, and the second check as I enter the ground, via the turnstile, were both and are invariably both perfunctory.
My personal view is that this perfunctory check is worse than no check, since it gives the illusion of security where there is none.
I am not a steward and have not been one, but I think if I found myself being asked to do a serious and important job such as a security check, but being unable to do it because of the number of people moving through the area, then I would be better off leaving that job and making the futility of the operation more widely known.
Super Singh
15/09/2017 at 11:48 am – No shame being out sung by a well practised choir of German supporters. Arsenal do not have a culture of precision trained fans. Our precision is usually on the pitch. If they sang for us…………we would be in a different class.
I did consider a chant of ‘We’re North bank, We’re North bank, We’re North bank Highbury’ with a response ‘ Our clock end, Our clock end, Our clock end made in Germany!’
Josif, normally a Red Member would enter with a membership card & a copy of a email. This ensures Arsenal fans remain secure. E Tickets are open to resale & a vulture fest.
If non-attending Red Members tickets have been compromised, surely that could mean that the ticketing system has been hacked.
Suggesting this is somehow members/season ticket holders fault is ridiculous!
Could have been a disaster and probably would have been if it were English fans of some clubs in Germany. Seems no one got hurt, no more than a regular game anyway. I don’t blame the Klon fans who bought a ticket by hook or by crook, I applaud them. Credit to both sets of fans overall.
I sit in the East stand a few blocks nearer the away supporters than Tony. I must say that at no time last night did I actually feel threatened. There were a group of about six Cologne supporters behind me who were very well behaved during the game. I very politely suggested to them that unless they sat down they would probably be thrown out of the ground and they actually took that on board. At the end of the game I shook hands with them and wished them well for the rest of the season.
As to how to deal with the problem in future it seems to me that the club should have more than enough evidence to identify which home seats were occupied by away fans. All members who are the legitimate holders of those seats should be sent letters warning them that their memberships will be cancelled should any future recurrence happen.
Last night was my 1st game for 5 to 6 years.
I have never seen such chaos and must say that I felt somewhat intimidated, despite the fact that I was a long way away and the bulk of the Cologne supporters.
I was happy to get away at the end before they were allowed out of their part of the ground.
I was, however, impressed with their singing and their support for their team, the vehemence of which must rarely be seen anywhere.
I took my wife about 40 years ago to 1 match, and she was totally uninterested
It was a home game against Chelsea which ended in a nil nil draw
However, the only thing that she found interesting was the fights that we witnessed outside the ground after the game
I am relieved that we won, although the shambles of the 1st half is something I would not like to see again
Poor Robert Peston. Imagine the horror: peering from the relative safety of your socially-conscious, progressive, rose-tinted Remainer bubble and seeing hordes of goose-stepping Neo-Nazis rampaging through the streets of London, defacing honest English doorways with their faschistischen Urin. Schändlich!
Spare pity also for the deeply disturbed John Cross at the Daily Mirror. Sadly, John is now affected with a retardation so pronounced that his write up of last night’s match included repeated references to it ‘going horribly wrong’ for Arsenal, who are ‘drifting towards mediocrity…disjointed and a real mess’. Cologne, apparently, are at best a pretty average team, a brilliant observation which allows John the legroom to contrast this result with Spurs beating a Dortmund side who finished just two places above Cologne last season. His conclusion? That we’ve sadly fallen far behind Tottenham because we went a goal behind. Yes, you read that right. No mention (obviously) of the other goals Spurs conceded against Borussia, either rightly or wrongly disallowed. Just more ill-conceived Arsenal bashing and bigging-up of a Tottenham side who’s biggest achievement since Pocchetino took over is finishing second.
Conspiracy against the Gunners? It’s too close too call….
Menace,
I agree with you, I see a fanatical support and remember the Northbank in the 70’s and 80’s. Only wish we could do that today?
Trying to get Arsenal fans together in today’s environment is no easy task. The seating system does not allow for team building. Standing allowed free movement & gathering of vocal support. The club has not captured the moment & has focused on financial gain rather than the togetherness of the fan base.
@Chris
Have you never been away with an English team to a European game. When you are a football fan and English the authorities can do what they like.
I went over to the semi-final of the Cup Winners Cup in Genoa to see Arsenal play Sampdoria back in the 90’s and we arrived at the airport at about midday on the day of the game.
We had a restaurant booked for a meal in the town before the game but were not allowed out of the airport but were instead herded to coaches and driven to a car park on the outskirts of town.
We were then (along with every other Arsenal fan who turned up at the airport) locked in the car park for five hours, before escorting us to the game.
The British consulate was called by a fan and a representative turned up who told the Italian police that what they were doing was illegal.
They just laughed at him.
EU laws are ignored by the rest of Europe when it suits them, maybe after Brexit we can return the favour.
i hope those days never return began a downward spiral which ultimately ended in tragedy had absolutely nothing to do with supporting a team and became rivalry between the groups involved attracted the thugs and made going to football matches anything but a pleasant experience. had things not changed football would have gone steadily downhill -where i live there is still this mentality and as a result hardly anyone goes -most people watch the local matches in the bars
A number of people have nailed it.
The Stewards are appointed by the local authority, they often consist of fans of rival clubs, the shambolic events are a reflection of that and poor policing, not the failures of the club.
This is a Metropolitan Police failure; the same people supposedly investigating the factual rigging of the last 2 elections, who took no action, when I can categorically state I was illegally denied my vote by the local authority. I expected as much.
The delay of the game, when Chelsea played on Tuesday and us Thursday with an early kick off on Sunday.
Gasprom, affiliation to Chelsea, and Champions League, they would normally have played on Tuesday with a 17:30 kick off on Super Sunday, hosted by guess who? Sky, you guessed didn’t you.
Policing at St Pancras, Victoria, Finsbury park, to spot the quite obvious Cologne fans and act as a deterrent, and stop the orchestration of these events.
As soon as I saw the delay I called the issue and the outcome with he action taken against Arsenal.
Theo, wasteful, thankyou Bellerin for arriving, Alexis, ‘wantaway’ that was passion, that was the will t win. Look at who scored, both full backs and the Talisman. What system, 4 at the f**king back!
Holding, learns a lot, Nelson, aah should have got a better debut, but Wenger doesn’t worry about the hype debuts at all, his choice, I would have played him at Liverpool, not Ox, how much worse could it have gone? But if they made an illegal approach, well maybe, just maybe he was spot on. IWIT
I said 7/7 Wenger thinks we will beat Chelsea, if we get that, expect 7/7
2 down, 5 to go. straight to bed after that game, late training session today I hope, intermediate training on tactics and keep ball, no sprint work, I’d hope.
Bellerin, firing nicely, Alexis, in, everyone rested, Jack back, all good.
Holding and Mo were so nervous, at least they care. All is well that ends well.
COYG 2-0
First hand from a Steward, she admitted that some stewards are intentionslly causing problems, and a vast number are made up of Spurs and Chelsea fans and so she has delayed at all costs completing the new course for Wembley as she wants to avoid the trouble.
I refer back to my point about the police intentionally wanting to enter easily destabilised areas of North London and needing crime in order to secutre jobs.
They should get a 3 percent base rate pay increase incrementally over 2 years and still have their budget reduced, stop policing EDL marches and then not policing peaceful demos so they can be attacked by Neo Nazis and EDL members and attacking protest groups against fracking and social inequality.
They failed on Purpose, and where was Jezza, might I add? I’m sorry but he’s going for a power grab and how left can you be in supporting an economic catastrophe called BREXIT.
I am all for immigration curbs, but illegal migration and neo-colonialism are key to that, along with better border control and co-operative border checking. Here we could introduce automated technology for processing, it would save a lot of money in the long run.
Something demonstrated by Tony in regards to perfunctory checks, which amount to illusionary processing at barriers.
It was a total disgrace and Arsenal have totally failed honest fans. Why was I sat with my 11 year old, right in the middle of 5000 Germans. We were allowed into this chaos by stewards who clearly had no idea what to do. My son was crying and it was only due to a helpful steward(ess) and the kindness of a stranger and his family that we were able to stay and watch. I don’t entirely blame the Germans as Arsenal allowed them to get hold of tickets (why have members cards that are not used) and had no idea of how to cope with the situation. I wonder what would have happened if the fans had invaded the North Bank or if this had happened at another club (West Ham for example). It’s a joke but will all be swept under the carpet as most clubs (Arsenal included) couldn’t care less about their fans. My son certainly has negative associations towards Arsenal after this. On a positive, thank you to the man with the pierced eyebrow (best way to identify him) who is off to work in the US next week and who sat his son on his knee so that we could stay in safe seats away from the Germans. – my son being a bit large for my knee!
Meanwhile
Jamie Redknapp: Arsenal need a ‘season-changing’ win at Chelsea
Err no, it could be season defining, but it’s not needed and we would go level on points with a win, so I mean then end of the world, no. Chelsea are going to respect us at the back and try to dominate from the front, disjointed, hence Conte asks for discipline. Wrong soundbite mate.
On the other hand: PERFECT press conference!!! 😀
“It’s an important game for us,” the Arsenal manager said. “The way we deal with that on Sunday will have an importance on our season. But it’s very early.
“I’m confident that away from home we will get the points we want, but certainly mentally for our team it is important to play well and get a positive result.
Wenger says the Chile international is getting back to his best, and once he is physically fit again, will be starting every game.
Alexis Sanchez is getting back to his best, says Wenger
“It was never a mental problem, because Alexis loves the game and loves to play,” Wenger said. “He came back, I gave him a long breather, over four weeks holiday, because he had not had decent rest in recent years
Wenger said: “You have to live with all kinds of opinions, but at the end of the day you have to make decisions, rational decisions, and these decisions are guided first by the sportive interests, but as well by the financial respect of your balance sheet.
“That’s what we do, we try to combine both. That is not easy because the transfer market is completely deregulated for clubs who live the way we live. So you have to be shrewd.
“We brought in (Alexandre) Lacazette and (Sead) Kolasinac and we are very happy with both of them, and we kept most of our players.”
Both Full backs scored, Koscielny and Mustarfi rested BACK 4? I would, revert to type!
Xaka and Ramsey rested, Granit usually gets better with these big fixture, we can match Chelsea temmpo, the fight in midfield is going to be interesting, I say we win in here. Cesc to get subbed off for Bakayoko?
Alexis, priming and will recover easily, Ozil rested, Welbeck rested and Lacazette rested.
Bench?
Ospina (I’d probably use Macey but) Monreal, Per, Elneny, Wilshere, Iwobi. Giroud
Flares
That nasty piece of work Dave Kidd in the Sun is being his usual Arsenal bashing self.
The following being a prime example of his bullshit:
“The recurring sight of Sanchez digging Arsene Wenger out of a bloody great hole”
And there I was thinking Wengers change of tactics was the reason behind the 2nd half come back?
Surely that would of been ‘tactical genius’ had the likes of Mourinho done it.
Not even a mention from Kidd.
And surely it was at least the ‘Plan B’ we’re so famed for not possessing.
Not even a mention from Kidd.
And I’m sure it was sub Kolasinac that ‘Dug us out of that bloody great hole’ or did I miss something?
Yes Sanchez scored a great goal. But isn’t that his job for crying out loud ?
When it was 1-1 for Spurs the other night, did Kane not dig Spurs ‘Out of a bloody great hole’ ? Or is it different when Kane does his job.
Honestly, if people cannot see this constant anti Arsenal agenda throughout the media then they are blind.
If anything it’s getting worse.
just one more thing (said that famous tv detective)
Kolasanic (I told you so, before he touched a ball, Wenger had done it again, lets just accept it) 2 assists 2 goals 5 appearances.
Also Jack, as soon as he came on, we purred, set up Alexis second bite at that curler. released Nelson and Alexis again, dummy which led to the game closer. Man I missed you something terrible.
Again a change in system would be good. I want him and Rambo with Xaka, Ozil Alexis in behind Laxazette. Eurgh Disgusting. 4-3-3
Nitram, it’s getting more decisive and worse, which means he is closing in on his objective, I must be also!
Also, unlucky Nelson, so close, a dink and it was a debut goal. Note on the second attempt after Wilshere threaded the needle, Alexis see’s Theo and says NAH!
agreed!
Chris @ 10:48 am.
“There comes a point where individual liberties, guaranteed by each individual european [sic] countries’ constitutions and by the european union [sic] ought to be respected or am I wrong?”
Wrong. National constitutions are overridden by EU Treaties etc (I don’t think there is an EU Constitution as such). We entered the EU (albeit in its previous disguise) illegally 44 years ago because our politicians wished to trick us into believing we were joining a FTA and the other members were happy for us to do so. So no respect for the constitution (or our version of it) of a sovereign nation there.
If you need “evidence” of why our membership is illegal, I can explain if you wish.
Dwain Kaye
Looks like someone is on the ball.
Only “terror” cells i know are those in the ranks of our so called “leaders” of the real terrorism against the people.
Nitram
Yes there is an anti-Arsenal agenda, but alongside that it is also clear that AW is not as tactically adept as others.
Theo is just not. Time is running out Theo, time is running out man.
Holding was given another chance to prove himself, that is why Kolasinac was not started me thinks.
Anyway i shudder to think what the Koln fans would have been like afterwards if Arsenal had completely thrashed them and they did not get the chance to see their wonder goal.
Dwaine Kaye
What on earth are you on?
All this crap from the likes of Cross and Kidd and we actually won. I wonder what they had to say about Tottenham Hotspurs epic Europa League campaign last season, a campaign were a lot of ‘digging’ out of ‘a lot of bloody great holes’ was somewhat missing.
Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 AS Monaco
Hmmm. Perhaps they could of done with someone digging Mauricio Pochettino out of a ‘bloody great hole’ on this particular night?
CSKA Moskva 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur
Leverkusen Bayer 04 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur
Hmmm. Perhaps they could of done with someone digging Mauricio Pochettino out of a ‘bloody great hole’ on this particular night?
Tottenham Hotspur FC 0-1 Bayer 04 Leverkusen
Hmmm. Perhaps they could of done with someone digging Mauricio Pochettino out of a ‘bloody great hole’ on this particular night?
AS Monaco FC 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur
Hmmm. Perhaps they could of done with someone digging Mauricio Pochettino out of a ‘bloody great hole’ on this particular night?
Round of 32
Gent 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur
Hmmm. Perhaps they could of done with someone digging Mauricio Pochettino out of a ‘bloody great hole’ on this particular night?
Tottenham Hotspur 2-2 Gent
Hmmm. Perhaps they could of done with someone digging Mauricio Pochettino out of a ‘bloody great hole’ on this particular night?
I’m sure you get the point.
The inference of course from Kidd is that we are a one man team, but isn’t it funny how that one man team has won 3 FA Cups and 3 Community Shields whilst the magnificent 11 man team from down the road has won….let me think…….F*** all.
And of course the one man team has somehow managed to finish above the 11 man team in all but one season. In fact, oddly enough we actually won 1 of the FA Cups, and still managed to finish above them before Sanchez even arrived, when we was in effect a ‘No Man Team’.
This media hate fest is beyond a joke and sadly many of our ex players and so called supporters are complicit in it’s escalation.
Pathetic is the only word for it.
Can I just add.
All this crap from Cross, Kidd and Para.
For pity’s sake man, give it a rest. We won.
Just read my post above and there would be something similar to say about Liverpool, and there fans don’t whinge half as much as many of ours, including you.
Neither do the media give them the shite they give us.
No we are not perfect. Wengers not perfect. The players are not perfect.
But I thought neither was Potch, or Klopp or the players at Spurs or Liverpool, but apparently they are.
Contractually we are in, potentially we did a Greece, but that was the best thing they could have ever done.
Jax; I am on toxic London air and stark truth, substantiated, et tois?
The answer would be to produce a draft of changes for EU law by March 19 2018 so good that they ammend and we dont continue this debacle called brexit.
Anyobe who trusts the government to have power to veto Parliament is a ring doughnut, nothing in the middle, not even jam, or parliament with lower grabs left right and center.
We rule s**t, no fleet, NATO protects UA, no banking, they are moving, poised to move or moved, or gonna move either way, France are like heeeheeee “petit Britain indeed”
Football reflects so much, as do the fanatics!
Islington council refused to allow us extra concert time, citing noise pollution, because it.boosted revenue, now this, building a criminal case takes time, the burden of proof for a theft act 1968 special iffence under common law is almost as.big as it gets.
@ para I know, but thanks! 😉
‘ Because of the imposition of moral rules, human beings have been constrained to act according to an idea of goodness, which, when we consider the state of the world today, has obviously not worked. Activate our humanity, rather than mortgage our intelligence to a notion of morality.’
morality is intrinsic, it is distorted by adopted and taught behavioural patterns.
You may be born with a defenctive or innacurate moral compass, this is physiological.
Rules have little to do with Morality, or you’d outlaw single occupancy of PRV’s and cap public transport pricing.