Is a new Arsenal club being born? Actually, probably not.

By Tony Attwood If you create a magazine which boasts that it is the “New Home of Football Writing” then all it needs to be is a little bit better than the football journalism that exists elsewhere.  Which you might well think is not that difficult, given the lunatic inaccuracies that we see and hear …

Uefa takes more care than the Prem Lge, plus more rule changes proposed

By Tony Attwood We have been pondering whether there are any regulations at all in the Premier League about the quality of the pitches the PL matches should be played on.  Judging by Tottenham’s game against Manchester City the answer is an extremely big “no”. You can play on gravel if you like. Or sand. …

The protest from the NBL – much ado about nothing

By Blacksheep I was at the game with Tony but (as he said in the last post) seated downstairs in the North Bank Lower tier. I didn’t count the A4 cards but it wasn’t many and Tony has a better view than me. There were a few directly behind me but they moan most weeks …

Sky-way robbery? Time to fight back, football fans

by Ché ‘Blacksheep’ Guevara The moving of the Arsenal v. Leicester City game from Saturday 13 February to lunchtime on the Sunday won’t inconvenience me from a travel perspective but it will give me an awkward decision to make (given its Valentine’s day). I think I know what I will do but at least I …

Criminal goings on in and around the Emirates…

By ‘DI’ Blacksheep The confirmation that the police inquiry into the mysterious death of Alexander Litvinenko included a visit to the Emirates Stadium (where they found traces of the radioactive plutonium that killed him) got me thinking about football-related crime scenarios. I am a historian that specializes in the history of crime and punishment (although …

The Emirates Cup 2015: an upstairs downstairs report

By Blacksheep After what seems to have been a very short summer break football was back at the Emirates and I set off to get my early pre-season fix this weekend. This year I rang the changes a little, decided to go BOTH days and to experience it from different vantage points. As you may …

Gunners vs Villains: five of the best (and worst) and a new hero emerges

By Blacksheep Today was a five star performance from the Arsenal against a Villa side that might need to readjust to life in the Championship if they can’t get their act together soon. But I’ll leave the match report to Walter when he gets back from leading Arsenal Belgium to the Emirates. I experienced 5 …

Coventry City 0-0 Shrewsbury Town, complete with Arsenal’s Chuba Akpom

———————————————- Coventry fail to tame the shrews* Sky Bet League One, Sixfields Stadium, Northampton – Attendance 1,966 So on a bright sunny day in Northampton (not) and with nothing better to do (except mark essays) it was off to see a local football match to take the mind off Saturday’s defeat. I arrived early, narrowly …

‘West London is wunderfulllllll!’: untold Lower league on tour

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 …

TV wins as Arsenal/Tottenham fails to sell out

By Tony Attwood Whether its the constant storms, the fact that it is on TV, the really daft kick off time, the worries about being stuck at the station yet again because the trains aren’t running, or just because it is the cup and hence not as good as the league, Arsenal v Tottenham is …

AB follows AVB into the dole queue at Xmas

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 …

The Emirates: a view from the cheap(er) seats

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 …

Purple Army triumphant in the Trophy!

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 …

Untold Non-league: Robins run out of town in the cup

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 …

The AISA AGM (from one who was there); a fairer deal for all

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 …

Guernsey v Dover Athletic (played at Lancing)

Guernsey 2 Dover Athletic 3 Why do we go to watch games of other clubs?  Why travel 250 miles in a day to watch a game where the crowd is just a few hundred? Why, when two of us are Arsenal season ticket holders, and the third comes along to Arsenal when work and other …

Untold Non-League: Lillywhites see off the Bluebirds

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 …

The Untold non-league tour continues: men against gingerbread boys*

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 …

A Champions League debut, statistics, food and Carroll

By Phil Gregory Unfortunately it was not “that” kind of Arsenal Champions League debut, but I was lucky enough to be at the Emirates for my first Champions League game on Wednesday night. Having only been living in London for a matter of weeks, my previous experience of live Arsenal games was either weekend games …

Arsenal’s foresight leaves others drifting backwards

Arsenal made a profit last year, despite a drop in property sales (because we had already sold most of Highbury Square) and despite buying buy not selling players. The operating profit (before exceptional costs, depreciation and player trading) in the football business was £45.8 million (2010 – £56.8 million).  The gains made on the commercial …

A day at Dortmund; what football is about

An evening in Dortmund By Walter Broeckx Going to Dortmund is a drive with the car of about 2 hours from my home. So it actually is closer than London is. And no water to go up, over or under.  So when the Benelux supporters met near Antwerp we were all in good mood. Of …

Tottenham apply for non-refundable government money to redevelop WHL. We talk to the minister

By our undercover reporters M. Adeup and T. Ruth Following revelations that Tottenham Hotspur FC have applied to the government for a non-refundable grant for the redevelopment of their White Hart Lane “ground” we decided to seek an interview with the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, the Right Hon Jeremy Richard …

**** off to Stratford, North London is Ours

Arsenal on Twitter @UntoldArsenal Untold Arsenal on Facebook here Victory Through Harmony Continuing our series on stadia, this article looks at Tottenham’s rebuilding plans and Arsenal’s options for enlargement By Tony Attwood When Tottenham got permission for the rebuilding of WHL I was slightly dubious about the project.  I’m certainly not an expert on buildings, …

Football attendances in Europe – Arsenal in Europe – the final part: how much does it cost?

Arsenal on Twitter @UntoldArsenal Untold Arsenal on Facebook here Victory Through Harmony By Walter Broeckx As I was working on the articles about the football grounds in Europe I had to do a lot of research. And the more numbers I got the more interesting it became.  I found it particularly interesting to see who …

Football attendances. Arsenal in Europe: who can fill their ground

Arsenal on Twitter @UntoldArsenal Untold Arsenal on Facebook here By Walter Broeckx So finally we are in part 3 of our series on football crowds in Europe. Part one was about the capacity of the biggest grounds in Europe . And in part two we have seen which team gets the most supporters in their …