It is interesting that there are occasions when it seems to me that the FA and EPL ought to do something (to maintain the balance as it were) and they don’t. For example there are the regular attacks by clubs such as Manchester Bankrupt and the Tiny Totts against refs. We heard a lot of this over last weekend, but rarely, if ever, do they get called to account.
This was brought into focus when I watched the film of Arsenal winning the league title at Manchester Bankrupt’s ground. If you watch the opening ten minutes of that game you see the most awful assaults on Arsenal players and yet the ref does nothing and I don’t recall the EPL taking the tactics up.
I’m tempted to take the issue back to the early days of Arsenal as a professional club, when the FA forbad other London teams (all of them amateur) from playing Arsenal in any competition but the FA Cup.
Woolwich Arsenal brought professional football to London, and indeed Henry Norris (who bought the club 99 years ago) regularly called them “London’s senior professional team”.
I’m not going to suggest that the original feud still goes on, but it really doesn’t look like a very even playing field in terms of the way in which different clubs are treated by the powers.
On a different matter… my apologies if you have written a comment to Untold Arsenal and then found it did not appear.
I would reassure you, all pieces that debate or discuss concerns of this site do get published. The problem is that in the last week the site has come under attack from a group of people who have worked out a way to get through the usual sort of wall that sites have in order to post inappropriate pieces.
For the moment, if you put a link anywhere in your post, it will be held for moderation, no matter how many posts you have sent through before, just while I work out the best way to fix this. I try and moderate fairly regularly, but there is the small matter of work and family affairs to get on with, so there can be delays. Sorry if it causes a problem – I will get it sorted.
Tony
All the !t propaganda about Ferguson and Man United is exposed for the bullsh!t that it is when you see the way Ferguson sets his teams out against Arsenal, as you cited. Last season’s FA cup debacle at OT is a perfect example: all the publicity was about our humiliation and about how our players were undisciplined and got booked for assaults. When those who were actually at the game saw 3 or 4 off the ball incidents in which Utd players assaulted our players. Further, no mention was made in the media of how Ferguson deliberately over-watered the pitch. At heart, the man is a cynical, arrogant, ruthless thug.
Ferguson and his team cynical bullies who act like preening prima donnas when opponents dare to challenge them (like the way Cronaldo did in the first half against Spurs on the weekend). The minute things aren’t going their way, they start acting like spoiled, petulant babies.
Yesterday, I could not sleep. I kept on thinking about the game, what it means to us and the fact that we really need to win. I kept on thinking how we would win, how we could play, how smart we¿d have to be to outwith the Man United team. Then today, I have lost my appetite. The anxiety is killing me. But then today, I read this comment from Diaby: ¿Whatever their form is like, they are still packed with great players who can make the difference at any time. However, they are not in their best form – maybe it¿s an opportunity for us to make the most of it and profit from it. That¿s not the main thing, though. We will concentrate on our game knowing that if we play we have a good chance. We have the quality here to win the Champions League, so we will give it everything.¿ Abou Diaby is not usually a player who inspires me with much confidence, but the young lad has a quiver of a point. Taking away the second half of the Sp*rs game away (where Sp*rs capitulated big time), the last 10 games for United have seen them labour to get results. They¿re overwhelming favourites and no doubt, they will attack. But we have the ability to overcome them if our tactics, attitude and concentration are spot on. The culprits for our last goal against Liverpool (in my opinion) were the midfield for not tracking the opposition, and we need clever thinking from all round the pitch. Abou Diaby is not usually a player who inspires me with much confidence, but the young lad has a quiver of a point. Taking away the second half of the Sp*rs game away (where Sp*rs capitulated big time), the last 10 games for United have seen them labour to get results. They¿re overwhelming favourites and no doubt, they will attack. But we have the ability to overcome them if our tactics, attitude and concentration are spot on. The culprits for our last goal against Liverpool (in my opinion) were the midfield for not tracking the opposition, and we need clever thinking from all round the pitch. In all honesty, I think we really need to defend this one. We need to go there solid at the back and protect our defence. We need to defend all over the pitch. Having Nasri in front of Gibbs will hopefully mean that we¿ve got two players defending Ronaldo – I was a little concerned when we played Villareal that we weren¿t covering that side well enough. Maybe that¿s why Arsene may switch Diaby and Nasri – but can Diaby be disciplined on the left of midfield? But the best form of defence is always attack, and although we have to be measured, an away goal – a 1-0 win, would be awesome. I believe Djourou has the ability and I¿m glad that he¿s getting this opportunity. He deserves it with his displays this season. Anyone else nervous? But at the same time very excited, but at the same time very nervous but excited but nervous¿ but
Im sorry but tonight defines Wenger’s future at the club. Im thanking him for all that he’s done, and those marvelous times will remain in every gooner forever. But we cant deny the fact that — 1. He’s not a good tactician, always predictable tactics most of the time cost of the title. Unlike other managers who can change a game at half time, he does not.— 2. Other than beautiful football, he brought us nothing so far. We played pretty football, West brom played pretty football, and both won nothing, 1 almost get relegated from the league, whilst the other almost been relegated from the top 4.— 3. He’s not that special anymore. If anyone of us could manage arsenal better than he does (e.g just buy hangeland and alonso, the team will be perfect), but he did not, instead he sticks with denilson and silvestre, for god sake. —- 4. He’s too tight on finances, which is not good. Its okay for me to have a bit of debt, if it meant to have the cups and titles.—5. Were not gonna wait for results for years to come. It has to come now.
hey simon why don’t u submit your resume to them? Who knows maybe they WILL hire you and sack Wenger for seeing Hangeland and Alonso. U can start by telling the press that u’re gunning for the manager and why u are better than him and let them blow the story up including how many years of experience u have under ur belt, but u have always been low profile. Then u can add how u “can’t stand the sight of seeing a manager who knows nothing about tactics” and how to turn the game around.
Give it a shot man, I’ll bet my entire life saving against that.
I will be interested in your take on how Sir Henry got us promoted from 6th? place, Tony.
It could still be that, that makes us a target to this day!!
Perhaps you should leave the 5 year olds alone – prick. One has to hope that he is not the offspring of a Hill Wood or Danny Fitzman.
something Wenger deserves credit for that’s recent? I can do that – the facts we’re one of only four clubs still in the CL and that we’re on a run of 20 unbeaten league games, despite being ravaged by injuries. I can go one better too, I can tell you why he’ll still deserve credit next season, the season after and for a good 10-15 seasons after that, whether he’s still managing the club or not – because he can see and has embraced the big picture – clubs like Chelski and Man U CANNOT carry on managing their finances the way they are. Chelski only survive because of Roman while Man U, despite having the biggest income of any club in the world, are somehow managing to get deeper and deeper into debt every year. Wenger (along with the much maligned board) deserve credit for the fact they already see what the Glazers will eventually wake up to, that you can’t run any business by spending what you don’t have and can’t hope to recoup. We ALL want to see some silverware again but, weirdly, it seems not all of us are that bothered whether we still have a club to support in 10 years time.
its quite apparent that most fans are totally behind Wenger and the team , there will always be the few, who wouldnt dare say anything down the Emirates or face to face with real Arsenal fans but they can be brave behind their screennames.Actually they are really sad little individuals and I doubt they are real fans. None of them actually can put a good argument together and when faced with questions they have no answer to just ignore them, its these “so called fans” who have also relied on multiple posting ids to try to give themselves some support, how sad is that?