Untold Arsenal: Supporting the club, the manager and the team
"I believe the target of anything in life should be to do it so well that it becomes an art." A Wenger
By Emma Johns As part of the Northamptonshire enclave I am sometimes lucky (?) enough to be part of Tony and Drew’s recent foray into non-league territory and occasionally get to go to the Emirates when Tony is indisposed. However, I must to confess to being something of a football tart. My heart belongs to …
Blacksheep63 I am a university lecturer and occasionally I get invited to give research papers (talks) at other institutions. So when Solent University asked me to come and talk to their criminology and law society (about a strange murder case in 1791) on Wednesday last I looked at my calendar and saw that I now …
Read More “Southampton vs Arsenal: a view from the opposition terraces”
One of the benefits of being a membership of AISA is the handful of events they organize each year. This one was really interesting, a chance to meet Alan Smith and the renowned sports journalist, Patrick Barclay and be entertained by Tom Watt (ex Eastenders’ ‘Lofty’ and full time Arsenal fan). The event took place …
This article is part of a series in which Untold writers have travelled the length and breadth of the country (well, the Midlands, London and the south) visiting other clubs on days when there is no Arsenal game. Today… Brentford FC 2-0 Port Vale (Attendance 8,327) On Saturday my brother and I made our way …
Read More “‘West London is wunderfulllllll!’: untold Lower league on tour”
West Ham boss Sam Allardyce is the only premiership manager to have been given a Latin name (Odobenus rosmarus) by the Royal Geographical Society. In the season 1925-6 Portsmouth played all their home matches under water after Fratton Park was blown into Fareham Lake. Nottingham Forest were founded by Robin Hood and originally played in …
Read More “13 things you didn’t know you didn’t know about football”
Untold Non Lower League: Northampton Town 1-4 Wycombe Wanderers Attendance: 4,353 Weather: atrocious Result: Another managerial casualty Flags and optimism at the start Tony and I had intended to watch Poole Town (Tony’s local club when his parents moved out of London during his teenage years) travel to Corby Town today, but a waterlogged pitched …
by Blacksheep Let me make something quite clear, I’m not a proper football pundit. The evidence for this is obvious. For a start I don’t own a wardrobe full of designer shirts. Nor have I played football at the highest level (I’ve not even played at the lowest level). I have no highly paid contract …
Tony and I were musing on the way back from the Hull City game on Wednesday about the crowd again, and in particular about the singing of certain players’ songs. This has prompted me to write this post and I’d welcome your collected thoughts. I remember a time (in the old Highbury days) when my …
Sometime ago Untold ran a grumbling piece about the man from row 15 who couldn’t be bothered to applaud the team even after we had despatched Fenebache (and Fulham the weekend before). He was still urging (very quietly it has to be said) M. Wenger to ‘spend some f***ing money’. Well, his wishes were answered …
Untold Non-League: Daventry Town FC 3-2 Ramsgate FC Attendance 215 (including Untold’s intrepid reporter!) Communication Park, home of DTFC Once again no ‘proper’ football only pointless internationals (and them not at weekends) meant that I decided to look around to see what was on offer at my local football grounds. I hit upon Daventry Town …
Tony asked me to write something today having seen a piece in this weekend’s Saturday Guardian – an article entitled ‘Arsenal’s moment of truth’ by Daniel Taylor. I don’t buy newspapers any more, to be honest I find their clumsy misrepresentation of the truth annoying and self-serving, even papers (like the Guardian) that I used …
Read More “It there a level playing ground? Arsene doesn’t seem to think so but do the papers care?”
A cacophony of voices: a view from row 13 By Blacksheep The Capitol One cup brings a different audience to the Emirates; one that doesn’t often get the chance the see the Arsenal in the flesh. I went along because it was a big game and I won’t pay the Murdoch shilling to watch it …
By Blacksheep Now I am aware that not everyone watches Saturday night (or Sunday morning) television. You may well be ‘jiving’* away the small hours, you may well be working or have childcare issues, or you may be living in different time zones. But if you were tuned to the Google box around 10.40 last …
Read More “Saturday Night Sunday Morning: a reflection on MOTD punditry”
Stamford AFC 4-2 Ashton United (attendance 301) With no Arsenal game this weekend Tony and I scoured the fixture lists and came up with what looked like an interesting tie in the FA cup. For most us the FA cup doesn’t start till January when the 3rd round proper sees the big boys enter the …
Read More “Untold Non-league: Robins run out of town in the cup”
I have to say that meetings aren’t the most fun things one can do in life but when they take place in the posh bit of the Emirates (Club level) and free curry is included it all helps to improve the mood. I am a committee member of AISA although I’ve struggled to make any …
Read More “The AISA AGM (from one who was there); a fairer deal for all”
Blacksheep63 I’ve been scrambling around looking for something to write about Arsenal’s upcoming game against Napoli, without mentioning Higuaín (damn) or Rafa Benitez (double damn). What do I know about Napoli? Well they are of course an Italian football team that play in Naples on the beautiful west coast of that country, south of Rome. …
By Blacksheep63 Aaron Ramsey was born on Boxing Day, which is of significance if only because it sits just after the important day of Christmas and has come to be seen as something of a poor bedfellow of the major Christian feast day. Children born around Christmas also have to accept that, unlike most of …
Read More “The Caerphilly Messi: or the fall and rise of Aaron Ramsey”
By Le Mouton Noir Soixante-trois One of the constant brickbats hurled at our illustrious manager is that he supposedly only sees incidents on the pitch he wants to see and conveniently ignores those dubious decisions that work in Arsenal’s favour. Indeed in 2009 the ever reliable Daily Mirror wrote a whole piece entitled “I did …
Read More “Le philosophe et le professeur: looking though Arsène Wenger’s eyes”
Cambridge City 2-1 Chippenham Town (attendance 322); the second of Untold’s non-league games from the non-league weekend. Welcome to the Glassworld Stadium in Impington, near Cambridge, the temporary home of Cambridge City for a Sunday k/o in the CALOR league premier division. The Glassworld is actually Histon FC’s ground and Histon play in the Blue …
Read More “Untold Non-League: Lillywhites see off the Bluebirds”
I’ve been thinking about doing this for some time but with the arrival of Mesut Ozil I’ve suddenly got more interested in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers on Friday and Tuesday, and how they affect Arsenal players.So her goes…the European fixtures * (I don’t think any AFC Players are involved any further afield..) Friday Czech …
Read More “Untold International review: the world cup qualifiers from an Arsenal perspective”
Regular readers of this blog (and those like ‘the man from Row 15’ who like to comment when things are not going so well), will know that occasionally I like to pontificate on the more cerebral issue of philosophy and what it has to offer us humble followers of the beautiful game. In previous posts …
Grantham Town 1-5 FC United of Manchester (att. 739) Last Saturday Tony and I travelled to the South Kesteven Sports stadium, in Grantham, Lincolnshire, to watch a match in the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League. It’s part of the Untold Non-League tour, which has already taken us to watch Corby and Guernsey (away at Crawley Down …
Read More “The Untold non-league tour continues: men against gingerbread boys*”
